One of the Northwest’s most passionate and competitively gracious players has elevated her golf game in a new category.
Tina Papatolis, originally from Toronto and now playing out of Issaquah, Wash., is playing in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur this week at Portland (Ore.) Golf Club. Two days of quality golf resulted in her earning the No. 8 seed for match play, and she won her Round of 64 match by a margin of 6 & 4 over Wendi Christensen of Coral Springs, Fla.
Just playing in the national championship can be seen as an exclamation point on Tina’s first season of senior golf, for which she became eligible in February after turning 50. In 2026, Tina won her third Washington Women’s Mid-Amateur and, in her first attempt, the PNGA Senior Women’s Amateur. Woven around those wins were a couple near-misses in other senior events, but that can only mean she was no worse than second, which she was at the Canadian Women's Senior Championship after a close playoff loss.
Tina stands out on the golf course. She is usually adorned with a Titleist cap and snazzy performance sunglasses, both of which are just about any color on a given day. Exceptionally friendly and jovial, she’ll always let her playing partners know they hit a nice putt or find ways to laugh with them. Once she completes a round, anyone in the immediate vicinity invariably receives a big hug.
Tina knows best what she gets out of the game.
“I love being out here, I love the challenge,” she said after winning the Washington Women’s Mid-Amateur at Walla Walla (Wash.) Country Club in June. “I love the camaraderie, the competition, and I’ve always been someone who loves to practice.”
All that has been evident in Portland this week, where her strong play has come with best friend and fellow Washingtonian golfer Sue Craven as her caddie. Gretchen Klein – another well-known senior player and friend to Tina – didn’t make it into match play but spectated Papatolis as she navigated her first match.
In consideration of all that’s around her this week, Tina is gratified.
“It’s been so fun being here, seeing familiar faces, friends of mine that I normally see at national championships,” she said after her Round of 64 victory. “The golf course is spectacular. The food, the hospitality of the USGA, there’s nothing like it.”
Her 50th birthday in February coincided with what had been a period of supreme motivation to take her golf game further forward. She’s been laser-focused on getting her equipment right, maintaining her personal fitness and adjusting her swing in such ways that minimize physical strain.
“I knew senior golf was coming,” she said, in reference to a period she described as about 18 months ago. “But even before that, it was, ‘I want to be the best player that I can be, regardless of age category I’m competing in.’”
Motivation has never been hard to come by for Tina. She continues to sharpen her game under the tutelage of Erin Menath, an LPGA Class A Teaching Professional at Bear Creek Country Club in Woodinville. She has a fitness studio arranged in her own garage, in which sits a magazine cover that she graced during her time playing softball at Simon Fraser University a few decades back.
“Right now, during tournament season, the workouts become more maintenance,” she said in description of her fitness regimen. “The stretching, the mobility. During the offseason, a lot more strength training starts to come into play, and again more flexibility, mobility, and addressing some of the imbalances. And then continuing to work on my golf swing so that it doesn’t wear and break down my body.”
As much as she ever has, Tina can use the words “sisterhood” and “camaraderie” when it comes to her personal experiences in the senior division too.
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously, and so I think that allows us the freedom to create these friendships, these bonds, and make memories together,” she said, grinning. “And then, of course, if you get to face each other head-to-head, you want to beat them, but it’s this neat little sisterhood.”
Playing her third consecutive high-level event following the PNGA Senior and Canadian Women’s Senior Championship, Papatolis is pleased with her form, and is as ever motivated to keep going and, as she puts it, “get up the next day and get better.”
As for keeping up the momentum, she laid out a well-defined sub-24-hour schedule.
“I’ll probably do a little chipping, a little putting,” she said. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Then I’m going to do some of the physio stuff, get the ice going, the foam roller.”
As for the Round of 32?
“Get up in the morning and do it all again. You get yourself warm, ready to go, and compete.”
Tina is one of several Northwestern players in the field this week. Lara Tennant – a PNGA Hall-of-Famer who won the 2018, 2019 and 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateurs – survived a 23-hole marathon to also claim a Round of 32 spot.
Others included Shelly Stouffer (Nanoose Bay, B.C.), Loree McKay (Portland, Ore.), Athena Douglas (Salem, Ore.), Cappy Mack (Portland, Ore.), June Zhang (Coquitlam, B.C.), Leslie Folsom (Tukwila, Wash.), Kimberly Hulst (Sammamish, Wash.), Tomoko Ratzlaff (Sammamish), Kim Shek (Bellevue) and Klein, who hails from Hoquiam, Wash.
