SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After 36 holes of stroke play over two days followed by six rounds of match play spread out over four days, Sarah Gallagher came out on top at Troon Country Club to win the 61st U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship.
Gallagher, 50, faced off against Brenda Corrie Kuehn, mother of college all-star Rachel Kuehn, in the final. Kuehn, 58, has competed in more than 45 USGA championships, including nine U.S. Women’s Opens. Gallagher is a former sixth-grade social studies teacher who now does financial planning. This was her first Senior Am.
They tied the first hole but then Gallagher birdied the next four holes to take a 4-up lead. A crowd of about 70 people was following the duo when Kuehn birdied the ninth to cut it to 3 up but the lead went right back to 4 up for Gallagher after she birdied the 12th.
That’s when things got interesting:
- Kuehn birdied the par-3 13th to make it a 3-up lead
- Kuehn then won the 14th hole with a par to make it 2 up
- Gallagher birdied the 113-yard par-3 15th to 3 up with three to go
- Kuehn fought back to win the 16th with a par
- Kuehn then won the par-5 17th with a birdie
Gallagher’s lead was now 1 up with one to go. Game on.
On the 18th hole, Gallagher hit an 8-iron for her second shot to the elevated back pin over the green then stubbed her chip. Kuehn landed her second shot in the front of the green and had to putt all the way across the green. She ended up three-putting for a bogey. Gallagher, a former Florida Gator living in Georgia, then calmly poured in her bogey putt to seal the win.
She immediately embraced her good friend and caddie Erin Packer and the two soaked in the win.
“I’m probably going to hold it in my lap on the airplane,” she said of the trophy which doesn’t have an official name but was nicknamed Big Bertha. “I’m going to put it on the kitchen table. No, I’m going to put it on the island in the kitchen. Actually, no, I can’t do that.
“My kids will put stuff in it.”
Sweet victory in Scottsdale! 🏆
Sarah Gallagher is champion of the 61st #USSeniorWomensAm! pic.twitter.com/zvnHGAbtWI
— USGA (@USGA) October 5, 2023
Holding a shrinking lead ratcheted up the tension but Gallagher said she knew it wouldn’t ever be easy.
“Brenda is, she’s such an incredible competitor,” she said about her 4-up lead dwindling to 1 up. “I knew she was going to start making putts. She’s so good. I knew I had to stay patient.”
After 103 holes of match play,…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…