Leta Lindley left the LPGA at age 40 to spend more time with her two small children, 8-year-old Cole and 6-year-old Reese. That was a dozen years ago. On Sunday at Fox Chapel Golf Club, Lindley’s now adult son Cole broke down in tears, overcome with pure joy watching mom put together the round of her life at the sixth U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
Lindley, 52, began the day five shots back but birdied four of the first six holes to begin a Sunday charge that never slowed. With husband Matt Plagmann on the bag, just like old times, Lindley hit 18 greens in regulation and rode what she called a phenomenal day of putting to a two-stroke victory over overnight leader Kaori Yamamoto, who shot an even-par 71.
“I’ve been dreaming about this day for so long,” said Lindley, “three years now before I turned 50, and I’ve imagined myself hoisting this trophy and winning this championship, and I dared to dream big.”
Lindley finished at 9 under for the championship, closing with a final-round championship record of 7-under 64 at Fox Chapel. While weather plagued much of the championship, with the course taking on 5 inches of rain, the sun broke through on Sunday and Lindley, who once described herself as the “Little Engine That Could,” went to work, doing yoga breaths around the course to combat the feeling of nausea.
At the start of the day, Lindley held a share of second with a couple of LPGA Hall of Famers in Annika Sorenstam and Juli Inkster, as well as Japan’s Mikino Kubo. But by the time Lindley made the turn, she’d erased the five-shot deficit and taken control of the tournament.
“I don’t know that anybody would have thought to write that kind of story for me,” said Lindley of her record finish. “I’ve always been an underdog player, sneaky, under the radar. I have dared to dream so much bigger this season than I did when I was playing on the LPGA tour.”
Leta Lindley reacts to making a putt on the 15th hole during the final round of the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Yamamoto, who’d set the 36-hole scoring record for this championship at 8 under, caddied for a friend last year at this event and went through a qualifier to get in the field at Fox Chapel. She birdied her last two holes to finish alone in second.
Lindley briefly roomed with Sorenstam at the University of Arizona and was grouped with her teammate in the final round. Sorenstam, who won this championship in…
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