Annika Sorenstam Leads the Way at U.S. Senior Women’s Open

There was fire in the cleverly contoured greens of San Diego Country Club for Thursday’s first round of the 7th U.S. Senior Women’s Open. And no one handled the heat better than four-time USGA champion Annika Sorenstam, whose 3-under-par 70 put her atop the leader board.

Sorenstam, who won the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open as well of the U.S. Women’s Open in 1995, ’96 and 2006, started the day on No. 1 and made the turn at 3 under par as she began the round with two birdies and bookended it with another on No. 9. As she headed to No. 10 tee she was the leader.

She made her only bogey of the day on the par-5 14th hole, giving up sole possession of the lead, but regained the top spot when she rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 16. 

Trailing Sorenstam by one stroke at 71 are Moira Dunn-Bohls, amateur Lara Tennant and Barb Moxness, who at 72 is the oldest player in the field. At 1-under 72 are 2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Open champion Trish Johnson and Corina Kelepouris, of Canada.

“I'm very pleased with the first round,” Sorenstam said. “I felt pretty solid from tee to green. I think I ended up in some good approach shots on the right side of the flag, which is very helpful on this course, so thank my caddie for that advice.”

Sorenstam’s game has always been about precision and a distance control with her irons that at times seems almost magical. On Thursday, she hit 14 of 18 greens and was solid with her putter, usually leaving herself in the right spot on the tricky greens.

“Even if you're close but you're on the wrong side, you're just going to be very tentative,” she said about the importance of ball position on the greens. “I was trying to stay a little short of the hole or pin high just to make sure that I would be able to have the right speed and not be too cautious.”

The dual challenge on the greens at San Diego C.C. involves gauging speed and reading breaks that are at times so subtle they escape the closest read and at other times dangerously sharp. Putts that miss on the low side build up momentum from the break, wander off and drift 5 feet away. 

“It looked one way from one way and another way from the other way,” Mike McGee, Sorenstam’s caddie and husband said about the birdie putt on No. 16. Whatever decision they made was the correct one.

One of the marquee groups of the day had first-time participant Karrie Webb, two-time runner-up Juli Inkster and 2022 champion Jill McGill. There was a total of 10 USGA championships in that threesome: five by Inkster, three by McGill and two by Webb. Inkster drained a 50-foot eagle putt on her first hole, the par-5 10th, to open her pursuit of a sixth USGA title. 

Inkster, who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur three times and the U.S. Women’s Open twice, and McGill, who won the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego C.C., the 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, are at two-over-par 75.

Webb, the last to win the U.S. Women’s Open in consecutive years (2000-01), shot even-par 73 in her first round ever in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. She’s in a knot of players that includes defending champion Leta Lindley, who grew up playing junior golf at San Diego C.C., and Liselotte Neumann, who won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1988.

“It was a scramble out there, but I piped it right down the middle on the first tee like a champ, so I was really proud of that,” said Lindley. “I did a lot of good things. The greens were tough. So I hung in there and don't feel like I hurt myself too much, and I'll just build from this.”

Asked how it felt to be competing in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open for the first time, Webb, 50, said: “All the nerves and anxiousness were definitely there, and it's sort of a course where I don't know if you ever really feel comfortable.”

And did it feel like a USGA test? “It did,” Webb said. “I think all three of us were glad to finish out on 18. Juli said to me on our 17th hole, ‘aren't you glad we don't do this for a living anymore?’ Yeah, it was definitely a test out there.”

Moxness, who made five birdies and three bogeys, averaged only 216.5 yards off the tee but still hit 14 of 18 greens.

“I think the USGA does an incredible job of testing every part of you, physically, emotionally, psychologically, and you've just got to be patient and work with yourself and work through every situation,” said Moxness. “I consider it a privilege to be here and be the age that I am and be able to do what I do.”

Play at San Diego C.C. usually starts under the cloud cover of the marine layer that burns away in the afternoon. With temperatures forecast in the mid 80s for the rest of the week, the fire in the greens is not likely to ease. Leaving the ball in the right place on these brilliant greens will be a key all week.