Shelley O’Keefe signed up for a local qualifier for this year’s U.S. Senior Women’s, but her back went out on the morning she was supposed to tee it up at Sierra View Country Club in Roseville, California. She tried to qualify last year, too, the day before her last round chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. That time was less about qualifying and more about seeing whether she could walk 5 miles.
O’Keefe gets emotional talking about what last year’s qualifier did for her mentally.
“It’s amazing,” she said, “when you have a goal, or you have something that gets you out of bed every day.”
This time around, O’Keefe wasn’t going to miss the chance to spend the week at NCR Country Club caddying for younger sister Jill McGill, as they often did in the summer when McGill competed on the LPGA. It was Shelley who told Jill that she was exempt into this week’s event as the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion. McGill also won the 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.
Now, heading into the final round at NCR, 50-year-old McGill finds herself one stroke behind past champions Laura Davies and Helen Alfredsson and tied with Annika Sorenstam and fellow senior rookie Leta Lindley.
“I don’t know if this makes me more nervous or going in for childbirth,” said McGill of being in contention over the weekend, “one of the two.”
McGill’s told her children Bella (10) and Blaze (6) that they could fly out from Dallas with their dad if she was in the top 10 over the weekend. They got out of school on Friday and rushed to the airport, arriving in time to watch mom shoot 2-under 71 in the third round.
This is the first time McGill’s children have watched her compete on a stage like this, and her friends warned her not to let them be a distraction.
“In my opinion, I said, it’s not very often you get an opportunity for your kids to see you do something like this,” said McGill, “especially having them later in life, so that’s the number one thing for me.”
Bella recently watched her cousin shoot 70 in a U.S. Kids event and is eager do the same. She stood in the back of the room on Saturday after walking 18 and watched mom’s evening press conference.
About 15 months ago, McGill walked over to Tenison Park Golf Club near her home in Dallas and talked to the director of golf about getting involved as an instructor. Half the job, she said, is getting them to feel comfortable on the golf course. She hopes her play this week…
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