No. 1 Cowan & No. 3 Tennant Fall in U.S. Senior Women's Am

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The top seeds had a fairly easy time of it Monday in the first round of matches at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women's Amateur. Tuesday was a different story. Only four of the top 10 survived the two rounds of matches that were played at Anchorage Golf Course. 

Ranking as the biggest upset -- and the best match of the tournament so far -- was Lynn Thompson's 2&1 victory over three-time defending champion Lara Tennant in the afternoon Round of 16. Both women were 2 under for 17 holes. And one or the other of them made birdies on eight of the 10 holes from No. 8 to No. 17. 

Earlier in the day, in the Round of 32, the No. 1 seed, Lynne Cowan, was dismissed, 1 up, by Terri Frohnmayer, the No. 32 seed. The match was all square through eight holes, before Frohnmayer won the 4l6-yard, par-5 ninth with a birdie and the 331-yard, par-4 10th with a par. Frohnmayer went 3 up when she won the par-4 12th (352 yards) with a birdie.

Cowan won both of the back-nine par 3s -- No. 13 (154 yards) and No. 16 (147) -- with pars, but Frohnmayer halved the 17th (424, par 5) with a par and the 338-yard, par-4 18th with a bogey to secure the victory.

The 66-year-old from Meridian, Idaho, won again in the Round of 16, beating No. 17 Brenda Kuehn 2&1. Just as she was in the morning, Frohnmayer was 3 over par in the afternoon.

So on Thursday morning in the quarterfinals, Frohnmayer will take on No. 9 Sue Wooster, a two-time runner-up who got to the quarters this year by knocking off No. 8 Suzi Spotleson, 5&4.

The No. 2 seed Shelly Stouffer, a 52-year-old Canadian, is still alive, although she got off to a slow start on Wednesday morning. She was 2 down against No. 34 Lee Burton after five holes in the Round of 32. But she won the par-5 sixth (456 yards) with a birdie, the 120-yard eighth with a par and the par-5 ninth (416) with a birdie to go 1 up at the turn. Stouffer proceeded to tie the 10th with a par and then win the 11th through the 14th holes, and that gave her a 5&4 victory.

She made even quicker work of her Round of 16 match against No. 47 Molly Steffes. Stouffer birdied two of the first seven holes and won five of them. She made a double bogey at the par-3 eighth, but then played the next four holes in 2 under and won all four of those holes to wrap up an 8&6 victory. 

Having played only 41 holes in her three matches thus far, Stoufffer should be fresh for her quarterfinal encounter with fellow Canadian -- and 2017 champion -- Judith Kyrinis, the No. 10 seed, who defeated No. 7 Martha Leach in a 19-hole Round of 16 match.

As for Tennant, the 55-year-old No. 3 seed cruised to her 20th consecutive victory in this tournament on Tuesday morning, making 15 pars and one bogey -- and losing only that hole (No. 13) -- in a 3&2 victory over the No. 30 seed, Marilyn Hardy. Then she ran into Thompson.

Thompson, 64, has qualified for only three U.S. Senior Women's Amateurs in her 14 years of eligibility, and before this year, she had won only one match. She didn't exactly distinguish herself in the stroke-play portion of the 2022 tournament, either. She shot 83-77--160 (16 over), which was 10 worse than the 74-76--150 that Tennant qualified with. That, however, didn't matter once match play started, and Thompson took advantage of two bogeys that Tennant made in the first three holes. She then birdied the par-4 fifth (338 yards) to go 3 up.

Tennant got on the board with a birdie at the eighth, but Thompson responded by winning the ninth with a birdie and the 10th with a par. Suddenly, she was 4 up on Tennant, who hadn't lost a match in this tournament since 2017. (She won it for the first time in 2018 and repeated in 2019. There was no tournament in 2020 -- a victim of Covid 19 -- but she came back last year and won again.)

The next five holes were all won with birdies. Tennant won the 11th (324 yards) and 12th (352) with 3s; Thompson won the 13th with a 2; and Tennant bounced back with a 4 at the 487-yard 14th and a 3 at the 15th, thereby cutting the deficit she faced to 1 down. That was as close as she got. They halved the 16th with pars, and after Tennant missed a 10-foot putt for her birdie at the par-5 17th, Thompson made a 3-footer for her birdie, and that was that.  

So Thompson will get No. 27 Kathy Hartwiger next. Hartwiger dispatched No. 43 Julie Harrison 4&3 Wednesday afternoon. 

Besides Stouffer, the only other seed from the top eight still alive in No. 4 Sherry Wright. She was 3 over for 34 holes on Wednesday, as she beat No. 29 Tracy Welch and No. 20 Terrill Samuel, both by scores of 2&1. She will play the Christie Blasi, the No. 37 seed, in the quarters. Blasi made a hole in one at the 135-yard third hole Wednesday morning, and was 4 up after six holes against No. 5 Kay Daniel, but she wound up having to go 19 holes to get the Round of 32 victory.

She needed extra holes again in the afternoon against No. 21 Sally Krueger, but she managed to win again, this time with a par on the 21st hole (No. 3).  


U.S. Senior Women's Amateur

At Anchorage Golf Course

Par 72, 5,684 yards

Anchorage, Alaska

Stroke play (the top 64 advanced to match play)

1. Lynne Cowan                        74-73--147

2. Shelly Stouffer                       81-68--149

T3. Lara Tennant                       74-76--150

T3. Sherry Wright                      75-75--150

T3. Kay Daniel                           76-74--150

T6. Corey Weworski                  75-76--151

T6. Martha Leach                       77-74--151

T6. Suzi Spotleson                     78-73--151

9. Sue Wooster                          74-78--152

64. Leigh Klasse                       84-79--163

Did not advance

Andrea Kellar-Luther               80-86--166

Brenda Williams                      86-84--170

Betsy Aldrich                           92-85--177


Match play

Round of 64

(1) Cowan def. (64) Klasse

(2) Stouffer def. (63) Lisa Poritz 5&3

(3) Tennant def. Mary Budke 4&2

(4) Wright def. (61) Ulrika Migliaccio 2 up

(5) Daniel def. (60) Marie Terese Torti 2&1


Round of 32

(32) Terri Frohnmayer def. (1) Cowan 1 up

(2) Stouffer def. (34) Lee Burton 5&4

(3) Tennant def. (30) Marilyn Hardy 4&2

(4) Wright def. (29) Tracy Welch 2&1

(37) Christie Blasi def. (5) Kay Daniel 19 holes

(27) Kathy Hartwiger def. (6) Corey Weworski 4&3

(7) Martha Leach def. (39) Sarah Ingram 1 up

(8) Suzi Spotleson def. (25) Shelly Haywood 3&1

(9) Sue Wooster def. (24) Amy Kennedy 3&1

(10) Judith Kyrinis def. (42) Andrea Miller 4&3

(21) Sally Krueger def. (12) Ellen Port 3&1


Round of 16

(32) Frohnmayer def. (17) Brenda Kuehn 2&1

(2) Stouffer def. (47) Molly Steffes 8&6

(51) Lynn Thompson def. (3) Tennant 2&1

(4) Wright def. (20) Terrill Samuel 2&1

(37) Blasi def. (21) Krueger 21 holes

(27) Hartwiger def. Julie Harrison 4&3

(10) Kyrinis def,. (7) Leach 19 holes 

(9) Sue Wooster def. (8) Suzi Spotleson 5&4