Putting a Shine on Broadmoor – The U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur will feature the Northwest’s best players

by Paul Ramsdell

Sure, this might sound a bit over-dramatic for a sports story, but this is an Olympic year so that’s almost commonplace.

It’s like two locomotives, with one coming from the north and the other from the south, humming along as powerfully as they ever have been, on a single track and ready to collide at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle.

That collision could come the week of Sept. 21-26 at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.

Coming from the north, from Nanoose Bay, B.C., is Shelly Stouffer, who so far in 2024 is matching her feats from 2022 when she won this national championship.

From the south, specifically Portland, is Lara Tennant, whose swing is as free and easy right now as it was in 2018, 2019 and 2021 when she won this title each year before some nagging injuries slowed her down.

Both players are former PNGA Senior Women’s Players of the Year, and both are members of the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame.

They’ll be joined by 130 other women age 50 and older who will test the recently renovated Broadmoor, which will play as a 5,611-yard, par-70, for 36 holes of qualifying medal play to determine a 64-player match-play field.

Stouffer won the Canadian Mid-Amateur title earlier this summer along with the B.C. Senior Women’s title and took second in B.C. Mid-Amateur. Pretty much the same results as in 2022, when she took the U.S. title at Anchorage Golf Club in Alaska.

“I’m looking forward to keeping it going, keeping it on a roll,” said Stouffer. “Hopefully it’s going to be like my 2022 year.”

Tennant also has her golf game on a roll this summer, winning the Oregon Senior Women’s title and then capturing both the Scottish and Irish senior women’s titles and then tying for sixth in the British senior women’s event.

“A busy three weeks, but a lot of fun,” Tennant said of the overseas trip.

“I’ve been fighting a bit of an injury the last couple of years and now my body is finally feeling better, so I think that’s probably the most important thing that’s going on.”

If her hamstring and back issues can successfully handle three weeks in generally cold and rainy conditions of the British Isles, then that’s a good sign.

“My body feels like it can swing the way it wants to swing,” she said.

So both golfers are on a roll, but there is another reason why the 130 other players might be struggling to keep pace with these two – it’s virtually a home game for them both.

“It will be like the same playing conditions that I’m used to,” said Stouffer, who last year in Arizona tied for third in the stroke-play qualifying but was knocked out in the round of 32. “Last year, down at Troon, the Bermuda grass got me a little bit.”

Tennant was the medalist for the stroke-play qualifying at Troon, but lost in the round of 16.

For Tennant, proper preparation tends to lead to desired results. That’s why there were some special trips to Broadmoor in August to get in some practice rounds.

“I always want to be prepared as much as possible for a tournament, understand the golf course, understand the shots I need to hit on the golf course,” she said. “If I’m fully prepared, I’m more confident and probably can play better.”

While there’s no doubt Broadmoor has a Northwest feel with the original design by A.V. Macan, the course recently underwent a renovation by architect Jeff Mingay to restore and maintain that original feel.

“The golf course has been through a 20-year master plan,” said Ned Sander, the club president at Broadmoor. “This will be our first USGA event for our greenkeeper, Sean McDonough, who has been with us for 20 years and has led the updating of the course.”

This will be the fifth USGA championship at Broadmoor, the last being this same event in 1996. And if that isn’t enough history for you, Ned Sander is the son of Anne Sander, who won seven USGA titles in her career.

“There is a lot of excitement around here with this being the 100th anniversary of the club, our centennial, and hosting this event at the same time,” said McDonough, officially the Director of Agronomy for the club located across Montlake Cut from the University of Washington.

“My hope is we’ll have a mild summer and that in September, we’re going to be able to offer a really firm, fast golf course for the ladies,” he said.

Paul Ramsdell has been a career-long journalist working at various times with newspapers, magazines and ESPN.com. He currently is the executive director of the Northwest Turfgrass Association, and is past president of Washington Golf.