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Oct 1, 2026

Tennant makes way to semifinals before falling in U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur

At the 2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, held this week at Portland Golf Club, hometown (and Northwest) favorite Lara Tennant made it all the way to the semifinal match before falling to No. 1 seed Xiaolong Zhong of China, 1-up.

Tennant, a 2022 inductee into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame and 5-time PNGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year, had been playing well this season, having won her second R&A Women’s Senior Amateur title in July.

She was trying for her fourth title in this national championship, having previously won it in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

As is her tradition, Tennant always has a family member caddie for her in national championships. This week at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, her son Matt did the honors. (Steven Gibbons/USGA)

In her march through this year’s match-play bracket, the No. 13 seed defeated a string of celebrated amateur players. In the round of 64, she defeated USGA Executive Committee member Brenda Kuehn; in the round of 32, she defeated 3-time champion Ellen Port, and later that afternoon she defeated Judith Kyrinis, who won this championship in 2017 and earlier this month had won the Canadian Women’s Senior Championship.

Tennant then earned her way into the semifinals with a morning quarterfinal match win against Lynne Cowan, 2 and 1.

Facing Zhong in the semifinals, Tennant struck first with a birdie on the opening hole before extending her lead to 2-up with another win on No. 4. Her advantage grew to as many as 3-up through 12 holes before Zhong began to find her rhythm. The No. 1 seed won three consecutive holes (Nos. 13-15) to tie the match, leaving her in a familiar position going into the 18th hole with a chance to win. Zhong would sink a 3-footer for birdie to win the hole and the match.

(Click here to view the match play results.)

“I’m just proud that I hung in there throughout the week, and I was able to win some matches against some great players,” Tennant said after her semifinal match against Zhong. “Today I shot even-par, I think, but just wasn’t good enough.”

With her five match-play wins this week, Tennant’s all time match play record in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur has improved to 31-6.

“Portland Golf Club has done such a great job this week,” Tennant said. “To have friends from all over Portland come out to watch is truly a blessing. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Sportsmanship: after Xiaolong Zhong defeated Tennant 1-up on the final hole of the semifinal match, Tennant hugged her on the green and wished her luck in the final match. (Steven Gibbons/USGA)

Other Northwest players qualifying for this championship included Tina Papatolis (Issaquah, Wash.), Shelly Stouffer (Nanoose Bay, B.C.), Loree McKay (Portland, Ore.), Athena Douglas (Salem, Ore.), Cappy Mack (Portland, Ore.), June Zhang (Coquitlam, B.C.), Leslie Folsom (Tukwila, Wash.), Kimberly Hulst (Sammamish, Wash.), Tomoko Ratzlaff (Sammamish, Wash.), Kim Shek (Bellevue, Wash.) and Gretchen Klein (Hoquiam, Wash.).

Papatolis and Stouffer also made it to match play, with Papatolis making the round of 32 and Stouffer making the quarterfinals.

Stouffer, another PNGA Hall of Famer, had won this national championship in 2022.