Five Northwest players qualify for U.S. Senior Women's Amateur

Ginny Burkey of Eugene, Ore. shot 6-over 79 to earn medalist honors in leading the field of 20 players who competed today in U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur sectional qualifying at the par-73 Skagit Golf & Country Club in Burlington, Wash.

The other four players to advance from this qualifier are Denise Kieffer (University Place, Wash.), Carrie Jacobson (Bellevue, Wash.), Alison Murdoch (Victoria, B.C.) and Susan Craven (Snohomish, Wash.).

L to R: Alison Murdoch, Denise Kieffer, Ginny Burkey, Susan Craven and Carrie Jacobson.

These five players will now advance to play in the 2018 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, which will be held Oct. 6-11 at Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club in Vero Beach, Fla.

Leilani Norman of Eugene is the first alternate from this qualifier, and Phyllis Laschuk of Vancouver, B.C. is second alternate.

Click here for complete hole-by-hole scoring of this qualifier.

Burkey shot 9-over par on her front nine this morning, which included a potentially crippling quadruple bogey on the par-5 ninth hole. She then bogeyed the par-4 10th hole to begin her back nine to put her at 10-over par and seemingly out of contention, but she responded with four birdies over the remaining eight holes to earn medalist honors, two shots better than Kieffer, who finished at 8-over 81.

Burkey has won seven Pacific Northwest Golf Association team titles, and in 2009 was named the WSGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year.

Murdoch was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame in 2013, and is also a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and the Golf Hall of Fame of British Columbia. She has won four Canadian Senior Women’s Amateur titles, four Irish Senior Ladies titles, and has been named the PNGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year five times. This is the seventh U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship she has qualified for.

The U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur is open to amateur golfers with a Handicap Index not exceeding 14.4 who are 50 years of age at the start of championship play.

The Washington State Golf Association (WSGA) is the local representative of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and conducted this qualifier for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship.

Founded in 1922, the WSGA is a 501c4 non-profit, amateur golf association governed by men and women volunteers. Serving nearly 70,000 individual members at more than 550 member golf clubs and 270 golf courses throughout the state of Washington and Northern Idaho, the WSGA works to continually expand the game of golf to people of all backgrounds.

The WSGA also serves as a statewide representative of the USGA and works closely with a number of allied associations within the golf industry for the betterment of the game.