LPGA Legends’ Long Push for USGA Recognition Bears Fruit: U.S. Senior Women’s Open Debuts in 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy Lopez will be 61 in 2018. Nevertheless, she will undoubtedly be looking forward to another shot at her first USGA “Open” win as a rookie, along with a full field of LPGA greats as rookies, at the USGA’s inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open now scheduled for 2018. This new championship, under consideration for decades (female professionals have never had a senior Open), was announced by the USGA today. Though a decorated player, Lopez never won a U.S. Women’s Open in 26 attempts.

Last September, I wrote on the possibility of an inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open being staged in Rochester, where the LPGA pros were so greatly popular for several decades (1977-2014). The 1973 U.S. Women’s Open was contested at The Country Club of Rochester.

Rochester has a long history of major golf championships including U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, LPGA Championships, the Ryder Cup and U.S. Amateur, the long-running LPGA tournament at Locust Hill C.C., and a U.S. Senior Open. Hosting the first U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2018 would not only add to that history but it would plug the hole left by the Wegmans LPGA Championship’s departure in 2014.

Developing…

2/8/15 footnote: In 2010, I wrote this column on the same possibility. (subscription-required)

 

 

 

 

 

2015 Danielle Downey Classic Now Online

The 2015 Danielle Downey Classic golf tournament, a new stop on the Symetra Tour that effectively “replaces” the Wegmans LPGA Championship for Rochester golf fans, now has a home on the web.

Back in September, I suggested combining the Symetra competition in July with a Legends Tour competition. Following that post, it was announced that a similar event will be held in Florida this April. It will feature Legends players competing in a 36-hole “tournament-within-a-tournament” alongside Symetra Tour players.

It would be great for Rochester golf to have the LPGA’s “legends” return to Rochester in a competitive event. Rochester has a long history of major golf championships including multiple U.S. Opens, the Ryder Cup, PGA Championship, the 38-year run of LPGA tournaments and the LPGA Championship at Locust Hill C.C. and Monroe G.C., the U.S. Senior Open in 1984 and the U.S. Women’s Open in 1973 (in which several still-competing Legends players participated).

 

Legend Lopez to Chair Danielle Downey Event at Brook-Lea in Rochester

Nancy Lopez will be chair of the Symetra Tour’s Danielle Downey Classic this summer in Rochester. On this blog in September of 2014, I suggested combining the Downey event with a Legends Tour event when the tournament is held at Brook-Lea so as to bring all of the LPGA greats back to town to launch this new event. The Symetra Tour will be doing something very similar to this at a Florida tournament in April.

It has now been nearly a month since the Lopez announcement was made. We will see if any momentum for a joint Legends-Symetra tournament develops in ROC. For a 2015 event, the clock is ticking loudly.

Legends Tour Heads to Delray Beach for Next Event

The Legends Tour tees up again at its next event, the Walgreens Charity Championship, in Delray Beach, Florida from November 6-9 at Seagate C.C. A star-studded field of LPGA greats will be there to close out the 2014 season including former Rochester winners Patty Sheehan, Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley, Sandra Haynie, Rosie Jones, Meg Mallon, Jane Blalock, and Judy Dickinson.

At their last event at Old Waverly in Mississippi, the American team defeated the World team in the Handa Cup.

Photo Credit: The Legends Tour

Saturday Handa Cup Pairings at Old Waverly Will Reveal Strategies of Lopez and Little

With the Handa Cup’s kickoff tomorrow at Old Waverly G.C., we will likely learn of the Saturday morning team pairings this evening. If the respective captains, Nancy Lopez and Sally Little, have a bold strategy for the day’s play, it may be evident in the pairings.

It would be difficult to resist the temptation to pair Laura Davies and Alison Nicholas for the sake of both sheer intimidation and tradition, a tradition that began at the first Solheim Cup at Lake Nona in 1990. The pairing of Nicholas and Davies defeated Lopez and Pat Bradley in the very first match. However, Sally Little may wish to spread the talent around and use Davies in a different pairing with a less experienced partner. Davies has been maintaining her hectic golf schedule and it can probably be assumed that Davies and Juli Inkster are the two top players this year. Both have been keeping their games sharp in regular tour play. I’ll predict Davies and Neumann. Liselotte’s short game would complement Laura’s distance.

A playing partner to keep the great Jan Stephenson from getting too hard on herself might be another Little goal. I would go with Alfredsson and Stephenson and then Nicholas and Trish Johnson, who just won on the LET thus becoming the oldest winner ever on either the LPGA Tour or LET. Crafter’s putting might pair well with Wendy Doolan.

On the American side, Lopez might be enticed by the idea of Inkster-Daniel and Jones-Steinhauer pairings out of the gate as power-pairings to score a quick couple of points Saturday morning.

Perhaps Captain Lopez will also put Pat Bradley and Sherri Turner out together. Their experience and wisdom would be complementary and, personality-wise, it would appear to be a comfortable combination. Sherri’s distance would also complement Pat’s iron play and short game.

Why keep speculating though? We shall soon know.

 

8:54 PM Update: Well, as it turned out, Inkster-Mallon will be the U.S. Team’s power-pairing for Saturday’s morning and afternoon matches. The World’s power-pairing will be Laura Davies and Trish Johnson in both Saturday matches. It appears that Captain Lopez is playing the same U.S. pairings in the afternoon while Sally Little “mixed it up” a bit more by reshuffling some of her pairings.

Nicholas is paired with Coe-Jones in the morning and Helen Alfredsson in the afternoon. Assistant World Captain Coe-Jones is apparently substituting for Jan Stephenson who is not scheduled to play Saturday. (There is no mention of this on the Legends Tour site.)

Perfect New Golf Event for Rochester? A Return of the LPGA’s Greats

They first came to Rochester more than 37 years ago. Many of these women made such an impression on local golf fans that it can’t be said that they ever truly left. Now, as the final Rochester LPGA event has been staged at Monroe G.C., after 37 years at Locust Hill C.C. and having been a “major” championship since 2010, the golf community is left without a top-tier women’s golf event. However, good memories and the spirit of the event persist among the many players, volunteers, organizers, and fans of the yearly competition. Though the Rochester community’s LPGA tournament is gone, and many of the revered players have moved onwards to their “senior” days, these players remain in the heart of Rochester golf fans—and ready to compete here again.

The community greatly benefited from the event’s long presence. Due to its support of Camp Good Days and other charities, and the golf competition itself, it became a local tradition and gathering place for the golf and business communities.

The Legends Tour, spearheaded by 1979 Rochester LPGA champion Jane Blalock in 2000, has assembled a contingent of events each year for LPGA players 45 and older. Many of the “legends” who were former Rochester champs enjoyed blockbuster crowds in 2006 when a special, former champions “shootout” was held at Locust Hill on Tuesday of tournament week. Attendance was comparable to most Thursday or Friday rounds.

A perfect, albeit smaller and more modestly-funded, replacement for the long-running LPGA tournament at Locust Hill and Monroe would be a Rochester Legends Tour event. Once again, the likes of Nancy Lopez, Patty Sheehan, Pat Bradley, Rosie Jones, Laura Davies, and Juli Inkster would grace the local golf scene as part of a community-building event. (Note: Annika Sorenstam will also be 45 in October of 2015)

Perhaps the USGA will decide the stage an inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open, a possibility under consideration. Rochester, due to the mutual appreciation between LPGA players and Rochester fans through the decades, and its great golf venues, would be an excellent choice for the first Open. In either case, whether as a fan-friendly Legends event, or a USGA championship, a return is possible and this blog is intended to serve as an informal discussion forum dedicated to the subject.

As related by the D&C: “Nancy Lopez will never forget the crowds, and the way Rochesterians welcomed the players of the LPGA Tour into their town, into their homes and into their hearts…”