At least that’s the case for golfers trying to qualify in Colorado for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
When CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora hosts the Colorado-based qualifier for the event on Tuesday, four players out of a field of 24 will advance to the first U.S. Senior Women’s Open ever held. And there will be three alternates — a change from the typical two for most USGA qualifying events.
The inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open is scheduled for July 12-15 at Chicago Golf Club, which is currently ranked No. 14 among Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. Chicago GC is one of the nation’s oldest 18-hole courses.
The field for Tuesday’s qualifier at CommonGround features many accomplished competitors: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Janet Moore; Denver native Lori West, who posted six top-10s on the LPGA Tour; former Colorado Women’s Open champions Dawne Kortgaard, Shelly Rule and Shannon Hanley; Coloradan Sherry Andonian-Smith, who finished second in the senior division of the LPGA Teaching & Club Professionals National Championship in September, earning a spot in the 2018 Senior LPGA Championship in the process; Elena Callas King, longtime instructor at CommonGround who was named among the top 50 LPGA teachers worldwide by the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals membership; part-time Colorado resident Marilyn Hardy, a past semifinalist in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur; former CWGA Stroke Play winner Kristine Franklin; and past CWGA Senior Match Play and Senior Stroke Play champion Deb Hughes.
Already in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open field is part-time Colorado resident Hollis Stacy, a World Golf Hall of Famer and three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion. The 64-year-old has a 10-year exemption by virtue of winning a U.S. Women’s Open title. Only four women have won more USGA national titles than has Stacy (6): JoAnne Gunderson Carner (8); Anne Quast Sander (7); Carol Semple Thompson (7); and Ellen Port (7).
“I will be playing, (trying) not to make a mess of it,” Stacy wrote to coloradogolf.org in an email earlier this year.
For Tuesday’s pairings at CommonGround, CLICK HERE.