When Helen Alfredsson won the second U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in 2019, she had no idea it would be two years before she would have an opportunity to defend her title. But the pandemic pushed the 2020 championship into 2021. On Thursday morning, at Brooklawn Country Club, that delayed defense finally begins.
The victory by the mercurial Swede at Pine Needles was especially emotional since the U.S. Women’s Open had twice broken her heart. To finally clutch a USGA trophy after finishing second in the U.S. Women’s Open 15 years apart – 1993 and 2008 – is a cherished memory for her.
“I've had a lot of time to think about it,” she said Wednesday at Brooklawn. “I have my memories and they are very vivid. I get goosebumps. As we all know, the USGA events or the U.S. Open for us was one of the toughest events. It took everything and then some to win it. I was very thrilled to also get it on a golf course like Pine Needles, which I thought was an amazing test the first two times we played it and also now as a senior.”
Like many in the field of 120, Alfie appreciates that the U.S. Senior Women’s Open is both an opportunity to compete and a chance to reconnect with old friends and longtime competitive foes.
“You realize how blessed you were for all those years that we had together,” said Alfredsson, 56. “You knew you were going head-to-head with your friends and you knew they were going to want to beat you more than anything and the same. But off the golf course now we really do cherish all those years because I think there is a mutual respect. I've always said that it's really an amazing, awesome group of women that accomplished a lot together.”
The emotional Alfie, who shatters every stereotype of the stoic Swedish ice princess, will play the first two rounds with another animated player – five-time USGA champion Juli Inkster.
Rounding out their threesome at 7:33 a.m. off No. 1 on Thursday is Lara Tennant, winner of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in 2018 and 2019. The championship was canceled last year by the pandemic and Tennant will go for the triple beginning Sept. 10 at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala.
Alfredsson, an extremely gifted natural athlete who excelled at ice skating and handball as a child and still looks as if she could participate in a triathlon, relies on that innate physical ability to continue to play at a high level despite few opportunities to compete, especially over nearly 18 months of COVID-19 lockdowns.
She played – and won – the Senior LPGA Championship in October 2019 to complete the two-event Senior Slam, but that is the last time she played under tournament conditions. Then again, she came into Pine Needles two years ago having played very little championship golf.
When Alfredsson plays recreationally – usually with her husband, Stanley Cup-winning hockey player Kent Nilsson – she creates competitive situations in her mind.
“I can beat Kent,” she said with a laugh, “so I have to think of other ways to stay focused. I try to, as much as I can when I go out and at least demand certain shots out of myself that I would like when I play. But no, it's a full year. I think that's going to be the toughest this week, to try to find the mental aspect of it.”
That could be where Alfredsson will be able to lean on her experience from Pine Needles. In the final round, she made a double bogey on No. 5 and it looked as if the wheels might come off. But then she played the final 13 holes even par to win.
And she did it in a very un-Helen-like way: The Erratic Alfie closed with 13 consecutive pars. How was that even possible? When you think of Alfredsson playing 13 holes in even par what comes to mind is a scorecard of four birdies, four bogeys and five pars – or something like that.
“Patience,” she said smiling, uttering a word extremely new to her vocabulary. “Me of all people – I played just one hole at a time, just one shot at a time.”
Alfredsson, who describes herself as the ultimate feel player, has added a potent 15th club to her bag – patience. She has replaced competing more often with reacting less often. And it seems as if that new formula is working quite nicely for her.
Alfie the Great is gunning for her third consecutive senior women’s major – and second U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship – spread out over 804 days. It just might be that she has the patience to pull it off. She’s already proven she has the ability.
Ron Sirak is a Massachusetts-based freelance writer who frequently contributes to USGA digital channels.
