Tag Archives: Laura Davies

2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Open August 20 to 23

Posted on by
Reply

The USGA Championship season is in high gear with the third championship in three weeks. Last week was full of unexpected results in stroke play and match play. The winner was not a player anyone was talking about at the beginning of the week; Jack Whaley of England (plays college golf at Florida State). It was a great final and I’m sure Whaley has a lot of new fans after his performance and how he conducted himself. You can watch a YouTube Highlight Video of the final match.

Now on to this week’s USGA U.S. Senior Women’s Open. If you are not familiar with this championship that’s not surprising because it is only eight years old. Some big names won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open in the first few years including Dame Laura Davies in 2018 and Annika Sorenstam in 2021. This year the championship is being held at Barton Hill Country Club in Ann Arbor Michigan. The field size is 120 players and will be cut to 50 plus ties after 36 holes.

Players To Watch: Annika Sorenstam will be in this year’s field but Davies will not be playing. Other big names to cheer for include Julie Inkster, Karrie Webb, Pat Hurst and Holllis Stacy. You can see the full field list on the USGA Website for the championship. Of the professionals, I would like to see Julie Inkster win this year.

A few other notable players include: Suzy Whaley who was the first female president of the PGA of America and Brenda Kuehn. You may remember Brenda Kuehn because she and her daughter, Rachel Kuehn are the only mother and daughter to win the ACC Women’s Golf Championship. Brenda Kuehn is a decorated amateur, lives in Ashville, NC ; and twice, Kuehn has been named the Carolinas Golf Association’s Women Golfer of the Year.

If you follow Senior Women Amateur Golf then you will also want to keep an eye on Ellen Port, Sue Wooster, Lara Tennant, and Dawn Woodard (who I will follow because she lives in Greenville, SC). Woodard won the 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. The 2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur is in September.

Side Note on Rachel Kuehn: This is completely unrelated to this championship but a fun fact is that Kuehn’s daughter, Rachel met Alex Fitzpatrick (Yes, PGA Tour Professional and Matt Fitzpatrick’s brother) at Wake Forest and they are still a couple. Their relationship was even on the Netflix show Full Swing because Alex caddied for Rachel at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur when Matt Fitzpatrick was featured in season 2, episode 5 of Full Swing. Here is a fun video from ANWA featuring the couple.

Side Bar on Davies: Dame Laura Davies has stated previously that there are really three reasons why she is scaling back on competitive golf. First, Davies said she’s not playing enough golf to feel sharp for majors. Second, she is very busy with Sky Sports as a commentator. I actually wish we had Sky Sports available because I love her commentary. And finally, she has a nagging wrist injury. I am a big fan of Davies so it’s a bit disappointing that she is not competing.

How to Watch: You can watch the coverage on the Golf Channel. Both Saturday moving day and championship Sunday will be broadcast from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (with rebroadcasting at 10 p.m)

2012 Ricoh Women’s British Open: Questions and Answers

Posted on by
Reply

In my post Ricoh Women’s British Open: Forget the forecast – it’s time for women’s golf to shine five questions were posted.  Below are the answers to all the questions and more….

(1) Will Yani Tseng win back-to-back Women’s British Opens and end the slump she has been in the last few months?  No, Tseng was not able to win.  Her final score was 299 or 11 over par for the tournament (Position – Tied for 26 place).  She was even par going into the final rounds but shot 76 and 79 to end the tournament.

(2) Can Paula Creamer rebound after the loss to Jiyal Shin last week at the Kingsmill Championship?  Not completely.  Creamer did not play poorly overall but she did not really contented; but then again, no one was close to the winner.  Paula was the top American, finishing in 3rd place (final score 289, or 1 over par for the tournament).  Although she did not win, Creamer actually had an impressive last round — she was in 10th placed and moved up to 3rd place (which was great given the weather was tough during the last 18 holes.)  Creamer still seems to be having trouble with her putter.  I’m sure Creamer will eventually fix the putter issues and we will see her back in the winners circle.

(3) Will Stacy Lewis win another major and finally get the respect she deserves?  Lewis finished in 8th position at 8 over par for the tournament.  I expected Lewis to perform better at the open but she seemed to be a bit frustrated with her play.  We all know that golf is a mental game and she did not seem as mentally tough as she normally appears in tournaments.  I think Stacy Lewis is still the “big hope” for US women’s golf — in terms of being a “contender” for the world #1 position (which is important to the American golf market.)

(4) How will Lydia Ko perform playing links golf and will she outshine the professionals?  If Ko were just “any” amateur, everyone would be impressed with her 17th place finish but Ko has won two professional tournaments as an amateur and people seemed slightly disappointed by her performance.  Really?  She is still only 15, made the cut at a major, won the “low amateur” award at the Women’s British open, and finished in the top 20 — I’m still impressed.

(5) If not the youngest player, Lydia Ko, will one of the “seasoned” players have a moment of glory?  My hopes that one of the older players might win did not come to pass.  Laura Davies, the 48-year-old British player, withdrew on Saturday due to an ankle injury.  This was a real surprise because before play was suspended on Friday, Davies was playing quite well.  Julie Inkster (the oldest player at 52) finished tied for 26th at 10 over par.  She commented to the media that it was the worst weather she has faced in 30-years of professional golf.

So who won?  The winner was Jiyai Shin, the Korean player that beat Paula Creamer in the Kingsmill playoff.  It was an impressive win for Shin — she smoked the field with a score of 9 under par (279 total).  Shin was the only player under par for the tournament. Her rounds were: 71, 64, 71, and 73.  Shin really seized the opportunity (with the low score of 64) on Saturday when the weather cooperated (i.e. little wind).  Shin told the press ““That might well be the best round I have ever played…”

The title of my previous blog began with “Forget the Weather…” but that was impossible.  The weather was a huge story this week.  The first day of the tournament was a bit windy but appeared to be what players expected for links golf.  Friday was just plain awful.  After the first group completed the first 4 holes play was suspended.  And, in an unusual (but not unprecedented move) the scores of those players were scratched.

Scratching scores has caused some debate in the golf world.  I noticed many of the golf analysts that felt they should have played or at least kept the scores were men.  I think the tour did the right thing.  Let’s remember that many of the LPGA players are quite petite and do not have the additional weight men have (so being blown over for the women was a real issue).  Balance is important in a golf swing and many players said that if the wind gusted in their back swing it just blew them off balance.  Even Michelle Wie who is quite tall said on Twitter that she felt like a flag pole and added a link to this image on the LPGA website.  In my opinion, the only “misjudgement” on the part of the tournament officials — starting play in the first place on Friday.

Ricoh Women’s British Open: Forget the weather forecast – it’s time for women’s golf to shine

Posted on by
1

Due to the 2012 Olympics the Ricoh Women’s British Open was moved from July to September and time of year might have a major impact on the final results.  Why?  Because right now the big story reported from Royal LIverpool at Holylake is the weather. The players faced cold, wind, and even hail during the Pro-Am. Here is a quick video Natalie Gulbis posted from yesterday’s Pro-Am.

Of course after bad weather comes beauty as shown in this tweeted photo from Brittany Lincicome.

LPGA Player, B. Lincicome, tweets a photo of a rainbow from Royal Liverpool GC

Given the tough conditions of the weather, which golfer will shine?  What will be the “big story” (other than the weather) at the end of the tournament on Sunday?  The questions on my mind are:

(1) Will Yani Tseng win back to back Women’s British Opens and end the slump she has been in the last few months?  At the beginning of the golf season all the golf pundits were predicting another big run for Tseng but she shocked the golf world with her poor play this summer.

(2) Can Paula Creamer rebound after the loss to Jiyal Shin last week at the Kingsmill Championship?  It was a disappointing blow to Creamer to 3-putt on the final hole which forced her into a sudden-death playoff and ultimately lost with another 3-putt on the 9th playoff hole.

(3) Will Stacy Lewis win another major and finally get the respect she deserves?  Lewis is the top ranked American player and ranked #2 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings yet she still does not seem to get the exposure that other lesser ranked players get from the golf media.  However, I was happy to see that the Adam Schupak wrote a New York Times article yesterday titled Women’s Golf Money Leader Could End U.S. Drought.

(4) How will Lydia Ko perform playing links golf and will she outshine the professionals?  She has the buzz coming off her amazing win at the Canadian Open this year.  The golf writers are already focused on Ko based on the tweet (below) from Kraig Kann, the Chief Communications Officer for the LPGA.

Lydia Ko is already facing big crowds  in the Media Center at Royal Liverpool

(5) If not the youngest player, Lydia Ko, will one of the “seasoned” players have a moment of glory?  Juli Inkster is at the open on a “medical exemption” (i.e. she is back after recovering from elbow surgery and has not played the full year so she was given a special exception).  I don’t think Inkster will contend given the short amount of time she has played this year.  Perhaps another “grand dame” might have a go at it.  I’ll be keeping my eye on Laura Davies, a 48-year-old British golfer with 45 careers wins (including 4 Majors and 20 LPGA tournament wins).  If the wind is up and experience counts, Davies might just have a chance to tame the links.

There are so many other scenarios that could take place.  Another Asian golf star (other than Yani Tseng) could win.  A player that has been struggling all year (Michelle Wie comes to mind) could suddenly get her game back and win.  Or a rookie (hopefully, Lexi Thompson) could thrill the crowd and get her first major. Of course, we can’t forget all the excellent Ladies European Tour (LET) players that could hold the trophy at the end of tournament.

Whatever happens this weekend, let’s hope it is an exciting tournament because the Women’s British Open is the major golf event this weekend; and with the PGA taking a week off before the tour championship, this is an opportunity for women’s golf to take the spotlight and shine.