Among the many charms of the U.S. Senior Women’s Open is that it’s one of the few competitions where being a rookie is an advantage. Many of the 41 players competing in this week’s championship for the first time have age on their side. They are the youngest in the field of players 50 and over but they also have the knowledge that comes from experience.
Nestled in that select group are Pat Hurst, 52, who won the 1986 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 1990 U.S. Women’s Amateur and was second in the 2006 U.S. Women’s Open to Annika Sorenstam after an 18-hole playoff. With her is Catriona Matthew, 51, winner of the 2009 Women’s British Open and three times a top-10 finisher in 22 U.S. Women’s Open starts.
Hurst and Matthew will be seeing a lot of each other the first two days at Brooklawn Country Club as they play in the same threesome. And they will see a lot of each other in another month when they go at each other as rival captains in the Solheim Cup – Hurst for the United States and Matthew for Europe, at Inverness Club from Sept. 4-6.
To make their All-Captains, All-Rookies threesome even more compelling in Rounds 1 and 2, the third member is Sarah LeBrun Ingram, three-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and three-time Curtis Cup Team member. She is also the Curtis Cup captain for the United States Team that will take on Great Britain & Ireland Aug. 26-28 at Conwy GC in Wales.
Like everyone in the field of 120, Hurst and Matthew have had to work extra hard to keep rust off their games, first because of the limited opportunities for senior female professionals to compete and then because of the pause imposed by the pandemic. Like many events last year, the 2020 U.S. Senior Women’s Open was pushed to this year.
“It's great to be here,” Matthew said Wednesday at Brooklawn. “Obviously, disappointed last year with everything that happened, not to be able to play, but delighted to be here and it's just great to see so many players I played on tour with and even from my amateur days, the odd Curtis Cups and players. It's just nice to have more contemporaries when I'm playing.”
Before the pandemic, Matthew was accustomed to hanging out with a younger crowd as she remained active on both the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour (LET). “I played two weeks ago in London in an LET event and that was my first event since Troon at the British Open the year before,” she said.
For the most part, Matthew and Hurst have been attending LPGA majors with their Solheim Cup captain’s hats on, scouting potential players for their teams.
“I've actually seen Pat I think at ANA [Inspiration] and at the [U.S.] Women's Open and at KPMG [Women’s PGA],” Matthew said. “But it will be nice to play with her, I think we were at the same tour school back in '94, and I played Curtis Cup with Sarah Ingram. So again it will be nice to see them.”
For Hurst, the delay was a double whammy. She turned 50 in 2019 but her birthday was just a week too late for her to be eligible for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Pine Needles. And then last year came the postponement.
“It's nice to come back and see the women playing because it's the same swings, same personalities, same everything, and it's the camaraderie is really – we're all pretty tight and it's a lot of fun just to get caught up on what everybody is doing,” Hurst said.
Unlike Matthew, Hurst had not been competing actively on the LPGA even before the pandemic. That adds butterflies to the stomach of even the most experienced competitor.
“I have to say golf is hard,” Hurst said. “I love practicing, love playing, and I haven't done it that much lately. I'm not prepared, but again, I'm going to go out and play the best I can. I have to say that it's nerve-racking.”
Hurst does anticipate that there will be some captain’s chat during their round.
“We'll definitely talk about the event,” Hurst said about Matthew and the Solheim Cup. “Sarah I don't really know, so it's going to be nice to play with her and get to know her a little bit and hear her thoughts on Curtis Cup.”
For both Hurst and Matthew, the thrill of being at a USGA event is special. Matthew, in particular, has hopes of going back to Scotland with a USGA championship trophy, something that has eluded her during her long career.
“Really looking forward to it,” Matthew said. “U.S. [Women’s] Open was always kind of my favorite event on tour. It went to some great golf courses. I did quite well in a few of them. Never quite got to that No. 1 spot, so aim for that this week.”
While spoken by a U.S. Senior Women’s Open rookie, those are the words of experience. Matthew, like Hurst, knows how much is on the line this week.
Ron Sirak is a Massachusetts-based freelance writer who frequently contributes to USGA digital channels.
