Top-10 Finishes for Australians Gole and Wooster

Oxford, England: Australians Nadene Gole and Sue Wooster clinched top-10 finishes at The R&A Women’s Senior Amateur Championship.

The first Australian winner of the Senior Amateur championship two years ago, Gole signed off with a round of two-over 76 at Frilford Heath’s Red Course to end the week at 12-over. That left her in outright sixth place, 10 strokes behind the winner, American Lara Tennant.

Fellow Victorian and reigning Australian Women’s Senior Amateur champion Wooster closed with a 78 to end in a share of seventh place.

Past Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Women’s Senior Amateur champions, Gole and Wooster were paired together in the final round.

Tennant won her second Women’s Senior Amateur title when she outlasted England’s Emma Brown in a thrilling encounter in Oxfordshire. Fellow American Bryan Hoops won the men’s Senior Amateur on his second appearance.

Tennant, who is ranked 357th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), returned a closing two-under 72 for a two-over 296 total to defeat Brown by five shots. Brown’s 2002 Curtis Cup team-mate Kerry Smith placed third, six shots adrift of Tennant.

“It feels great,” Tennant said. “This is my fourth time playing in this event and I’ve won twice and finished second so I’m more than happy.”

Hoops finished 11th at Walton Heath last year on his debut in the Senior Amateur. This year he closed with a six-under 66 to finish on 10-under 278, six shots better than England’s John Kemp and Swiss-based Australian Richard Heath.

“This is the best win of my career,” said Tempe, Arizona native Hoops. “I’ve won tournaments in the United States and internationally but to win a national championship like this is my best.”

Tennant, who won the 2019 Women’s Senior Amateur at Royal St David’s, was three shots adrift of Brown after nine holes of the final round. However, the three-time US Senior Women’s champion played the inward nine in one-under 36 to Brown’s 44 to get her hands on the trophy again.

“I wanted to shoot two-under today and I did that,” added Tennant, who won three straight US Women’s Senior Amateur Championships between 2018 and 2021. “I did a good job of just focusing on my own game. I knew I was behind Emma but not by how much. I just stuck to my game plan and tried to do my best on each shot.”

While the women’s event came down to Tennant and Brown, Hoops ran away with the men’s trophy. His closing 66 was the second lowest score of the week behind Kemp’s 65 in round two.

Hoops, 57, who at 308th on the WAGR table is the world’s highest-ranked senior, said: “I played so well all week. I missed a two-foot putt on 18 yesterday and that was the only three-putt I had, so I didn’t have a lot of stress over the four days.”