Jill McGill claims third USGA title at 2022 U.S. Senior Ladies’s Open

August 29, 2022

KETTERING, Ohio – Jill McGill stepped as much as faucet in her bogey putt on the 18th inexperienced on the U.S. Senior Ladies’s Open when Annika Sorenstam mentioned, “No, no, no, mark.” A confused McGill turned and requested why.

“She goes, ‘You’re going to win,’” mentioned McGill. “I used to be like, what? I actually had no concept.”

McGill hadn’t gained a trophy of any form since 1994, and it was considerably becoming that the winningest participant in fashionable LPGA historical past was there to ensure McGill had her second.

“I wished to provide her a hug,” mentioned Sorenstam, “and say, ‘That is yours, so benefit from the second, soak it in and let me end.’”

McGill, 50, entered rarified air together with her Senior Ladies’s Open triumph, becoming a member of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, JoAnne Carner and Carol Semple Thompson as the one gamers with three completely different USGA titles. McGill gained the 1993 U.S. Ladies’s Newbie and 1994 U.S. Ladies’s Newbie Public Hyperlinks whereas a scholar at USC.

“It’s been a extremely, actually very long time,” mentioned McGill, who by no means gained as knowledgeable. “I’d at all times been a bit of bit disillusioned that I couldn’t determine tips on how to get it performed. I used to be a unique individual on the market this week, actually, by way of simply acceptance of hey, you’re making the very best choice you possibly can. You’re making an attempt to execute the very best you possibly can. That’s all you are able to do.”

On a day when no one broke par at NCR Nation Membership, McGill shot even-par 73 to complete at 3-under 289 for the match. Leta Lindley, one other Senior Ladies’s Open rookie who gained as soon as on the LPGA, in 2008, completed one stroke again.

Lindley, who like McGill now works as a educating professional, had husband Matt Plagmann again on the bag, similar to outdated instances.

“I felt like we picked up proper the place we left off,” she mentioned, “and it was like placing on actually your favourite comfortable sweater.”

Whereas the rookies completed 1-2, it was three previous champions—Laura Davies (2018), Helen Alfredsson (2019) and Annika Sorenstam (2021)—who entered the ultimate spherical because the favorites. Collectively they boast 15 LPGA main titles.

For some time there, it seemed just like the solar may be Davies’ greatest risk. The 58-year-old felt wobbly after bending over on the sixth gap, and took out a solar umbrella to attempt to beat the warmth.

As Annika Sorenstam—maybe probably the most constant participant within the historical past of the ladies’s recreation—put up a stunning 40 on the entrance 9 and Helen Alfredsson shot 39, Davies took a two-stroke lead into the again 9.

Jill McGill performs her tee shot on the seventeenth gap in the course of the last spherical on the 2022 U.S. Senior Ladies’s Open at NCR Nation Membership (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio. (Picture: Jeff Haynes/USGA)

McGill shot even on the entrance and was inside hanging distance till Davies blew up the leaderboard with a devastating quadruple-bogey eight on the par-4 twelfth. After hitting her drive left into the bushes, Davies’ second shot ricocheted off a tree out of bounds and she or he by no means recovered.

She seemed shattered when she walked in to satisfy with the press after a closing 78 that dropped her to a share of sixth.

“About as robust as I’ve ever recognized it, I feel,” mentioned Davies, who has battled a bruised Achilles because the AIG Ladies’s British Open.

Sorenstam birdied the primary gap to attract right into a tie with Davies and Alfredsson and seemed primed to placed on a present. As a substitute, she placed on the brakes. Sorenstam mentioned she didn’t drive the ball nicely sufficient this week, however actually can’t pinpoint the why. She hit solely 4 fairways within the last spherical.

When requested what her schedule would possibly appear like subsequent yr, Sorenstam mentioned it’s too early to inform, however that she gained’t play as a lot as did this yr.

“It’s been laborious to place this effort in and never get the outcomes,” she mentioned, “and I’m at some extent in my life the place I’ve another enjoyable issues going, so I don’t actually really feel the thrill to return again and play.”

Six amateurs made the lower this week in Kettering. Patricia Ehrhart earned low-amateur honors after ending 10 over. The 56-year-old Hawaiian is the journey and occasion supervisor for the Margaritaville Surf Group. Her three daughters, Scarlett, Lola and Mason, are all members of the staff, which is captained by Jimmy Buffett.

Ehrhart has now earned a spot in subsequent yr’s area at Waverly Nation Membership.

McGill joined the LPGA in 1996 and compiled 24 profession high 10s. She twice completed runner-up and earned over $2 million, final competing in 2013. McGill promised her two youngsters, Bella (10) and Blaze (6) that if she was within the high 10 after the primary two rounds, they may come up from Dallas with their father to observe on the weekend.

Bella, who is raring to observe in mother’s footsteps, carried the trophy into the media tent after the spherical and even requested mother a query.

McGill had older sister Shelley O’Keefe, a former mogul skier turned educating professional, on the bag this week. O’Keefe was recognized with ovarian most cancers final yr and needed to pull out of her personal Senior Ladies’s Open native qualifier this yr with again ache.

Whereas McGill had no concept the place issues stood down the stretch, O’Keefe was nicely conscious and fought off her feelings on the closing holes.

“Shelley has at all times been an incredible supportive drive for me in my profession,” mentioned McGill. “I simply love her.

The statuesque McGill credited the work she put in enjoying aggressive tennis – “We predict we’re enjoying Wimbledon” – as an vital edge this week.

“The man that I work with that coaches our staff, his identify is Jason Warren,” mentioned McGill, “and I used to be engaged on my serves, and he’s like, ‘You’ve already performed the laborious work, so if you go like this you’ve simply obtained to chill out and let it move and actually free arms and actually free shoulders,’ and I actually drew from that at present about simply being free and being relaxed.”

She additionally did her finest to neglect every thing she’d felt as an LPGA professional when it counted most. The previous Trojan remembers feeling sick to her abdomen she was so tense down the stretch as a younger professional greater than 15 years in the past.

Not this time.

McGill grew to become the primary American to win this championship and receives a spot within the area at subsequent yr’s historic U.S. Ladies’s Open at Pebble Seaside. She’s additionally now exempt into this championship for the subsequent 10 years, which implies she’ll be again at San Diego Nation Membership, web site of her U.S. Ladies’s Newbie victory, for the 2025 Senior Ladies’s Open.

“I really like Pebble Seaside,” mentioned McGill, “it’s heaven on earth.”

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