In USGA senior amateur qualifiers held in Colorado this week, it was a case of, “like husband, like wife.”
A day after Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore shared medalist honors at U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying at Flatirons Golf Course in Boulder, his wife, fellow Hall of Famer Janet Moore, followed suit on Friday by being medalist at U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur qualifying at The Club at Codillera’s Valley Course in Edwards.
Janet Moore (left), who last weekend won her 19th CWGA championship by teaming up with Allie Johnston to claim the Brassie title, continued her roll by posting the low score out of 46 entrants at Cordillera. Moore shot an 8-over-par 80 in very windy conditions on a formidable mountain layout.
“It is very special,” Moore said of the husband-wife medalist feat for the national senior amateur qualifiers. (Kent shot 69 at Flatirons on Thursday.) “But after careful calculation, we figured we played in a 12-shot wind today,” she joked.
Everything is relative, of course.
With wind blowing 15-20 mph much of the day and greens nearly as tough to putt as those at the Colorado Open’s longtime former home, Hiwan Golf Club, low scores were nowhere to be found on Friday. It was so difficult that competitors who shot 89 played off for the last of the 10 available berths into the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.
Of those 10 berths, seven went to Coloradans. The qualifiers for the Senior Women’s Amateur, which will be held Sept. 26-Oct. 1 in Nashville, Tenn., were:
Janet Moore of Cherry Hills Village 80
Kathy Malpass of Evergreen 81
Kelly Loeb of Tucson, Ariz. 81
Deb Hughes of Denver 83
Cathy Stypula of Boulder 85
Katherine Moore-Lilly of Minneapolis 85
Diane Henry of Kerrville, Texas 86
Beverly Hoffenberg of Greenwood Village 87
Jennifer Hocking of Colorado Springs 87
Patty Smogor of Centennial 89
The alternates were, in order:
Kathleen Johnson of Broomfield 89
Julie Robichaux of Kingwood, Texas 90
Smogor won a playoff with Johnson for the final national berth.
Moore, Malpass and Hocking also qualified last year in Colorado for the Senior Women’s Amateur. Malpass will be competing in the Senior Women’s Am for the sixth time and in a USGA championship for the ninth. It’ll be No. 2 in both categories for Hocking.
Meanwhile, for Moore, it will be her 19th USGA championship. She’s previously competed in three U.S. Women’s Amateurs, one Senior Women’s Amateur, two USGA Women’s State Teams and a dozen Mid-Amateurs.
On a day when birdies were few and far between, Moore made one, at the par-5 third hole, where she almost chipped in for eagle and tapped in a 3-inch birdie putt. Other than that, it was tough going.
“It was playing very difficult,” said Moore, 51. “I was grinding all day to get pars, even bogeys. Quite a few good players had high scores. With the wind and the mountain greens, if you hit your ball in the wrong place, it can add up quickly.”
Moore said she benefited from having as a caddie Brett Gagnon, who once was an assistant professional at Cordillera, and now works in the same capacity at Red Sky Golf Club. Gagnon is a former caddie at Cherry Hills Country Club, where the Moores are members.
“If I didn’t have Brett, I definitely would have been a few shots higher,” Moore said. “He saved me a couple of times.”
When Moore went to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur last year, she had a lot on her plate as she was coaching the women’s golf team at Wheaton College in Illinois. Suffice it to say her game wasn’t in peak form and her rounds of 83-87 left her three shots out of advancing to match play.
But after stepping away from coaching — after four seasons — in the spring, she hopes to perform much better at the national championship this time around.
“Last year was a busier time with coaching, and playing in the Senior Am and the Mid-Am was a little too much,” said the five-time CWGA Stroke Play champion. “I hope this year I have more time to practice and get ready. Hopefully, I get there and represent Colorado well.”
For all the scores from Friday, CLICK HERE.
(Below are some of Friday’s qualifiers: From left, Diane Henry, Bev Hoffenberg, Kathy Malpass, Deb Hughes, Kelly Loeb, Jennifer Hocking and Janet Moore.)
