The 6th U.S. Senior Women’s Open Is a Snapshot of History

Part of the magic of the 6th U.S. Senior Women’s Open is that it tells the history of women’s golf while at the same time adding to that rich story. To glance at the field of 120 women at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh, Pa., for this week’s championship is to take a peek at the past while being impressed by the present.

The first five U.S. Senior Women’s Open championships have been won by five different players, all of whom have a distinguished history in the game, and all five will tee it up in Thursday’s first round at Fox Chapel.

Laura Davies, who won the first edition of U.S. Senior Women’s Open at historic Chicago Golf Club in 2018, and Annika Sorenstam, the 2021 champion at Brooklawn Country Club in Connecticut, are both in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Dame Laura, who led the Ladies European Tour money list seven times, won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1987.

Sorenstam has 72 wins on the LPGA Tour, third all-time behind Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright, including the U.S. Women’s Open in 1995, 1996 and 2006. She joins Hollis Stacy as three-time winners of the U.S. Women’s Open in this week’s field.

When Jill McGill won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club in Dayton, Ohio, in 2022, she joined Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Carol Semple Thompson and JoAnne Carner as the only competitors to win three different USGA championships.

Helen Alfredsson, who hoisted the trophy at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., in 2019, and defending champion Trish Johnson, who captured the championship at Waverley Country Club in Portland, Ore., last year, each have won 29 professional championships.

That’s just part of the rich history on display at Fox Chapel this week. In all, there are 30 USGA champions in the field, including seven winners of the U.S. Women’s Open and eight who have won the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Five-time USGA champion Juli Inkster joins Carner, Davies, Stacy, Sorenstam and Thompson as World Golf Hall of Fame members in the field.

Among the 120 women at Fox Chapel, which is hosting its fourth USGA championship, are 27 who have competed in all five previous U.S. Senior Women’s Open championships, 33 amateurs and 66 players who earned a spot in the field at one of the 16 qualifiers in 15 states.

Of the 33 amateurs, Judith Kyrinis, Martha Leach, Lara Tennant and Sue Wooster will each compete for the sixth time in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. Kyrinis, the 2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion, was low amateur in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2019 and 2023. Leach, the sister of Hollis Stacy, won the 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and is also a two-time low amateur in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open.

Wooster has won the Australian Senior Women’s Amateur three times and the Canadian Senior Women’s Amateur once. Tennant, who won the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur three times in a row beginning in 2018, comes into Fox Chapel looking for an impressive triple this year, having already won the Irish Senior Women’s Open and the Scottish Senior Women’s Open this year.

That’s the kind of aura that surrounds the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. That’s the kind of talent that will compete for this year’s championship. On Sunday, someone will add to the legacy of a championship that has already established a track record for making history while also celebrating history.

At a time when women’s sports has pushed its way onto the front burner of media attention, the U.S. Senior Women’s Open stands as a unique beacon that shines a light on the past while illuminating the present.

Ron Sirak is a Massachusetts-based freelance writer.