Stouffer and Gole to meet in Finals at U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur

Shelly Stouffer of Nanoose Bay, B.C. has had quite a year. In April she was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame. And now, she’ll play in the final match of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, being held this week at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle. Stouffer will be trying for her second title in this national championship, having won it in 2022.

A field of 132 players from 492 entries began the week at the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, and after two rounds of stroke play and four rounds of match play just two remain for Thursday’s final match.

Stroke-play medalist Stouffer will take on the No. 3 seed, Nadene Gole, in the 18-hole final match after the pair won both their quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Wednesday. Stouffer won the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur while Gole is competing in just her second U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur after she reached the quarterfinals in 2023.

Click here to follow along with live scoring of the final match.

The morning’s marquee match of the quarterfinals was a rematch of the 2023 Senior Women’s Amateur between Brenda Corrie Kuehn and defending champion Sarah Gallagher. Corrie Kuehn, who has competed in more than 50 USGA championships, got her revenge with a 1 up win to punch her ticket to an after semifinal match against Nadene Gole.

The other three quarterfinal matches all ended on the 15th green with 4 and 3 margins: top seeded Stouffer defeated Kathy Hartwiger, Ellen Port eliminated the last remaining Washington native, Kim Shek, and Gole beat Dawn Woodard.

The first match off in the afternoon, Stouffer and Port tied the opening four holes with two pars and two birdies before Stouffer took the lead with par on the par-3 5th hole. She held that advantage until Port made birdie on the par-4 9th hole to level the match at the turn.

Stouffer reclaimed her lead with back-to-back wins with par on Nos. 10 and 11 but Port quickly responded with birdie on No. 12. When Stouffer won the par-3 14th with another par, Port responded yet again, this time with a clutch 15-foot birdie putt. The back-and-forth battle continued when Stouffer made a birdie of her own on No. 16 to take a 2-up lead with two holes to play. The pair traded pars on No. 17 to secure Stouffer’s 2 and 1 win and her spot in the final.

“I putted pretty well. I think I had one three-putt. I hit the ball pretty solid as well. I hit a lot of greens, I think,” said Stouffer. “Ellen was scrambling a lot, so I figured she’d get worn out a little bit, which kind of happened a little bit.”

“I just didn’t play as well today. I missed a lot more fairways,” Port said of the match. “I made more mistakes in this match than it seemed like I did all four combined with drives.”

Gole, who owns a chocolate business back home in Australia, got off to a sweet start and took hold of her match with Corrie Kuehn early with a pair of birdies on Nos. 2 and 3. She extended her lead to 3 up with par on No. 7 before Corrie Kuehn won her first hole of the match at No. 9 to cut the deficit to 2 down.

The Aussie didn’t waste much time and reclaimed her 3-up lead immediately on No. 10. Corrie Kuehn made things interesting with wins on Nos. 13 and 14 to bring the match within one before Gole responded with yet another win at the par-3 14th. Two down once again, this time with four holes to play, Corrie Kuehn clutched up with a birdie at the par-5 15th and tied the match with a 25-footer for birdie on the par-4 17th. On the par-5 18th, Corrie Kuehn missed a 12-footer for birdie to win the match while Gole got up-and-down for par with a nifty chip to send the match to extra holes.

The match continued on No. 10, which Gole won the first time around with par. The Aussie, who plays at Victoria Golf Club in the famed Australian Sandbelt, hit a match-winning shot from a sidehill line in the rough to within just a few feet of the hole for a conceded birdie. Corrie Kuehn had a birdie look herself from some 40 feet away that failed to drop, which sent Gole to the final.

“I played really solidly the first nine holes. I had a couple three-putts, and I probably should have been further up,” said Gole. “But unfortunately on the back nine I had a couple three-putts, and it was sort of a bit of, you know, maybe I let (Corrie Kuehn) in.”

“But I will say she played the last six holes exceptionally well, holed some amazing putts. Great player,” Gole said of Corrie Kuehn. “I feel very privileged to have played with her, and then to have (Sarah Gallagher) caddieing for her as well, who I played last year in the quarters. It’s just one of those things. It’s match play, isn’t it? Sometimes you hole them, and sometimes you do what I just did on the last hole.”

“I’ve got to tell you, I just kept plugging away. I struggled. I struggled ball striking today,” said Corrie Kuehn. “The rain did not help. I don’t play in the rain anymore. When it’s raining outside, I just don’t go out and play.”

“So I was struggling with my swing and the ball striking, but I just tried to stay patient. I was putting well, and then I had a couple birdie looks made the difference. I made a couple putts and got back in the game. I had a really good look on 18. I hit the putt just where I wanted it. It didn’t break the last six inches.”

What’s Next

The final match will begin at 9 a.m. PDT on Thursday. Admission is free.

Notable

• Three of the top four seeds advanced to the semifinals.
• After she lost to Shelly Stouffer in the quarterfinals, Kathy Hartwiger jumped on the bag and caddied for her in the semifinal match against Ellen Port. Defending champion Sarah Gallagher did the same for Brenda Corrie Kuehn for her match against Nadene Gole. 
• Gole’s 19-hole victory over Brenda Corrie Kuehn was just the second of 62 matches thus far in the championship to go to extra holes. The first was Corey Weworski’s 21-hole victory over Jackie Foster in the Round of 64.
• Both finalists are exempt into the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur, Aug 4-10, at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon Dunes) in Bandon, Ore., the 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, Aug 21-24, at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif., and the 2025 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Sep 13-18, at Troon Country Club and Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
• Both semifinalists receive a two-year exemption into the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (2025 and 2026).

Quotable

“I’m sure it probably did. Ellen says she doesn’t play much in the rain, but you have to play in the rain in tournaments. Like I do play in the rain often sometimes, and I just do it because I know that I’ll have to do it in tournaments because I really don’t like it that much.” – Shelly Stouffer on if her experience playing in the rain in Canada helped in Seattle.

“I’ve had quite a few of those in playoffs. Look, I don’t want to say it, but I’ve had quite a few of those sorts of things in those pressure situations. I don’t know why, but they do, they come out – Look, I just loved the game today. I just thought it was going to be a tough match, and it certainly was that.” – Nadene Cole on her flagged approach from the rough to win her match on the first extra hole.

“I just was thinking over that putt, this is so fun to try to — to be in this situation where you’re playing a meaningful round of golf. So I really had a great — I’m not even upset about this because it’s just I played such good golf until really this match.” – Ellen Port on the excitement that comes with playing in a USGA championship.

“She was amazing. She was great. Such a trooper to come out here in the rain. She was great.” – Brenda Corrie Kuehn on having her quarterfinal competitor, Sarah Gallagher, caddie for her in the semifinal match.