A YEAR FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
both the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur. That double was remarkably du-
A
plicated in 2015. And then a 53-year- old who had never advanced to match play in a USGA championship went on a Cinderella run to win the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. This August, Olympic Club
member Hannah O’Sullivan rallied from 3 down in her final match at the U.S. Women’s Amateur to top Sierra Brooks 3 and 2 at Portland Golf Club, a week before Belmont CC’s Bryson DeChambeau jumped on Derek Bard for a 7-and-6 victory to clinch the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields outside Chicago.
The first week of October, Cool’s
Karen Garcia gave away a 3-up lead, but won Nos. 17 and 18 to pull out a 1-up victory over Massachusetts’ Pamela Kuong in the championship match of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Hillwood CC in Tennessee. The only other year NCGA members won both the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Amateur was 1981, when Nathaniel Crosby won at Olympic Club, and Juli Inkster won her second of three straight U.S. Women’s Amateurs at Waverley CC, which is also in Portland. The only other year Northern
California golfers won at least three USGA titles was 1964, when Johnny Miller captured the U.S. Junior Ama- teur, Ken Venturi epically survived the U.S. Open, and William Higgins snagged the U.S. Senior Amateur. Pebble Beach’s Loma Smith also won the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur that year to make it four USGA titles from Northern Californians.
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NCGA.ORG / FALL 2015
summer that will forever be celebrated in NCGA lore is 1981, when members won
The Inkster connection from the summer of 1981 is particularly special to O’Sullivan, who was the 2010 Junior Tour of Northern Cali- fornia Player of the Year for the Girls 12-13 division. “I have known Juli Inkster for about nine or 10 years now, and she is my idol in golf,” said O’Sullivan, who now lives in Chandler, Ariz, but is a member of The Olympic Club. With her win at the U.S. Women’s
Amateur, O’Sullivan vaulted to No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Rank- ings, one spot ahead of Brooks. The victory also granted O’Sullivan a berth into four women’s professional majors: the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open at CordeValle, the 2016 Ricoh British Women’s Open Championship, the 2016 ANA Inspiration at Mission
NCGA MEMBERS CAPTURE U.S. AMATEUR AND U.S. WOMEN’S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS IN CONSECUTIVE WEEKS, BEFORE KAREN GARCIA GOES ON SPECTACULAR RUN TO WIN THE U.S. SENIOR AMATEUR
Hills CC, and September’s Evian Championship in France. O’Sullivan made the cut at the Evian Championship after a second- round 68, which earned her a third- round tee time with Inskter. She fin- ished tied for 50th at 5 over, just ahead of Christie Kerr and Laura Davies. “Playing with your idol in an LPGA major, that’s a dream come true,” O’Sullivan said. “Juli and I had so much fun together, and she played great.” O’Sullivan has been on a tear this
year, first making headlines in February when she became the youngest player (16) to win on the LPGA’s develop- mental Symetra Tour. She won three of four AJGA events she played— including both the Rolex Girls Junior Championship and the Rolex Tourna-
Hannah O’Sullivan
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