Little and McGarvey Win PNGA Women’s Senior Team Championship; Ryan and Douthit Victorious in Super Senior

The team of Jackie Little of Port Alberni, B.C. and Kathryn McGarvey of North Vancouver, B.C. combined to shoot a final round 2-under par 70 to win the 34th Pacific Northwest Women’s Senior Team Championship. Mary Ryan of Renton, Wash. and Sun Douthit of Steilacoom, Wash. won the 1st Pacific Northwest Women’s Super Senior. Both championships were held at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash.

Little and McGarvey had built a four shot lead heading into today’s final round, and combined for four birdies against two bogeys on the day to finish five shots ahead of second-place finishers Ginny Burkey of Eugene, Ore. and Lisa Smego of Oro Valley, Ariz. Little and McGarvey were the only team to finish the championship under par.

This is the first time Little and McGarvey have competed together as a team. “I was very nervous,” McGarvey said afterward. “Jackie is a legend, a really good player, and I was just hoping to be respectable.” But Little said McGarvey more than held her own, making three birdies on her own today. “We ham-and-egged it very well for three days,” Little said.

“The chemistry that we had going, especially yesterday, was really special,” McGarvey said. “Yesterday’s Chapman format is different because you’re not playing every shot, and you’re putting balls into positions where your partner is not used to, it’s a real challenge, and somehow we found a way to make it work.”

This is the first title in this championship for the two but the third time Jackie has become a PNGA Champion, having won the Senior Women’s Championship twice (2008, 2009). Little was inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame of BC in 2009.

Burkey and Smego, who were the first-round leaders, had been looking for a three-peat, having won this championship the past two years.

Ryan and Douthit started the final round two shots behind second-round leaders Mary O’Donnell of Bellevue, Wash. and Carol Dick of Lakewood, Wash., but Ryan and Douthit shot an impressive 4-over par to overtake O’Donnell and Dick, winning by three shots.

The two championships were contested over 54 holes, and both consisted of two-person teams competing in a Four-Ball format in the first round, a Chapman format in the second round, and Four-Ball in the final round. The first round was held on Gold Mountain’s Cascade course, while the second and third rounds were held on the club’s Olympic course.

The championships were conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA). Entrants must be 50 years of age or older prior to start of play in the first round.

Contestants came from all parts of the region, including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia, Alberta, as well as from California and Arizona.
Click here for more information on the PNGA Women’s Senior and Super Senior Team, including full hole-by-hole scores and a list of past champions.