PORTLAND, Ore. – Canada’s Helene Chartrand and Lara Tennant of Oregon each recorded a 36-hole total of 2-over par 146 to earn co-medalist honors in the 2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Waverley Golf Club, which is set up at 5,836 yards and a par of 72.
Tennant, who had a large gallery following her, including three of her five children and her husband, Bob, carded five bogeys and four birdies to match her Round 1 total of 1-over 73. Bob grew up in a house on Waverley’s 12th hole. Tennant’s father, George Mack Sr., an accomplished Oregon golfer who learned how to play on the course, carried her bag.
Chartrand, 61, bested her first-round score by four strokes Sunday, carding a 1-under par 71 that was highlighted by a 12-footer for birdie on the par-3 ninth hole, her final hole of the day. It was one of only two under-par rounds in the championship.
“I feel strange, happy, I don’t know where this is coming from because I haven’t been playing that great,” said Chartrand, the Canadian Senior Women’s Amateur champion in 2014 and runner-up in 2016. “I took a couple putting lessons from my coach a few weeks ago and changed my setup, and have worked hard on pace and speed and trying to trust myself.
“Usually, I’m the queen of three-putts, and I had four yesterday, but only one today,” said Chartrand who is playing in her sixth consecutive U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and made a quarterfinal appearance in 2014, losing 1 down to champion Joan Higgins. “So, I stroked the ball really well today. I actually don’t think I can hit the ball any better than I have the last two days. I missed three greens yesterday and only two today.”
The U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, open to female amateurs age 50 and older with a Handicap Index® not exceeding 18.4, consists of 36 holes of stroke play, with the low 64 players advancing to match play, which begins Monday. The championship, scheduled to conclude with an 18-hole final on Thursday, is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the USGA, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
Other Canadians advancing through to match play are:
- Judith Kyrinis
- Marie-Therese Torti
- Sandra Turbide
- Terrill Samuel
- Jackie Little
- Mary Ann Hayward