Late Birdies Extend Matthew's Lead to 3 at U.S. Senior Women's Open

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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Friday was Catriona Matthew's birthday. The now 54-year-old from Scotland celebrated the occasion by making three birdies over the last six holes at Waverley Country Club during the second round of the U.S. Senior Women's Open, and shooting a 1-under-par 71. That gave her a 36-hole total of 140 and increased her lead from one stroke at the start of the day to three at the end.

Matthew's first-round 69 remains the only sub-70 score of the tournament so far. Her 71 equaled the best score on Friday. Three other players matched it, and one of them was Nicole Jeray, who's alone in second place at 143. Christa Johnson shot 72 for the second straight day, and she's third at 144. 

Lurking five shots behind in a tie for fourth is Annika Sorenstam, winner of 97 professional tournaments, including 10 major championships. She came back from a first-round 74 with 71 and is tied at 145 with Trish Johnson, Tammie Green and Moira Dunn-Bohls, who shot the fourth 71 on Friday.

Sorenstam, 52, won this tournament on her first try two years ago, and tied for fifth last year. The players she tied then were Laura Davies, who won the inaugural Senior Women's Open in 2019, and Juili Inkster, a winner of 45 professional tournaments, seven of them majors. But Davies, 59, and Inkster, 63, both missed the cut this year. Inkster birdied the last two holes, both par 5s, but her two-day aggregate of 153 (75-78) was one too many.

Jill McGiill, who won in 2022, is tied for 14th at 148 (75-73).

Matthew finished fourth last year. On Friday, she had some problems with pin positions, especially on the front nine, and she described those pins as "quite tricky."

"I just never really gave myself any legitimate birdie chances and kind of messed up No. 3, with that funky green," she said, "and No. 8 was just a pure three-putt. I got going on the back nine, apart from No. 11, where I kind of took the wrong club, so desperate to get it up the false front that I went long and actually ended up making a good bogey."

But Matthew, who won four times on the LPGA Tour and six times on the LET (Ladies European Tour), birdied the all three of the par 5s on the back nine, beginning with the 497-yard 13th. And after making pars at the 14th, 15th and 16th holes, she, like Inkster, birdied the 441-yard 17th and 493-yard 18th. 

Jeray was a regular on the LPGA Tour for 12 years, but now she coaches a high school team, and she gave some of the credit for her success this week to the lessons she's both taught and learned from coaching. 

She hit 15 greens on Friday and made two birdies, at the 325-yard, par-4 third and the 17th. Her lone bogey came at the 126-yard, par-3 14th hole. She's made only three bogeys in two days.

"It's crazy that I'm playing so good," she marveled. "But I really think telling the kids 'trust your shot; commit to your shot; go through with your routine; it's a game of misses; it doesn't need to be perfect,' just me saying that over and over again every single day has really helped me, because that's how I'm playing."

Johnson, who is 65, played for the University of Arizona a decade before Sorenstam got there, and she won nine times on the LPGA Tour, including one major. On Friday, she made 16 pars. Her only bogey came at the eighth, and her one birdie at the 13th.

The only player with Minnesota connections to make the cut was Michele Redman, 58. She was a Big Ten individual champion and an All-American at Indiana and won twice on the LPGA Tour, and then served as the women's golf coach at Minnesota. In her spare time, she's won three tournaments on the Legends Tour, which is sort of like a senior tour for women. On Thursday, she opened with a 77, but she rallied with a 73 and is tied for 28th at 150. 


U.S. Senior Women's Open Championship

At Waverley Country Club

Par 72, 5,883 yards

Portland, Ore. 

Second-round results 

1. Catriona Matthew              69-71--140 (-4)

2. Nicole Jeray                      72-71--143

3. Christa Johnson               72-72--144

T4. Annika Sorenstam         74-71--145

T4. Moira Dunn-Bohls.         74-71--145

T4. Trish Johnson                 73-72--145

T4. Tammie Green                70-75--145

T8. Yuko Saito                       73-73--146

T8. Leta Lindley                     72-74--146

T8. Helen Alfredsson.            75-73--146

T28. Michele Redman          77-73--150

Missed cut -- 152 

Barb Moxness                     78-77--155

Lisa Grimes                          77-80--157

Becky Iverson                      79-78--157

Kris Tschetter                       82-75--157

Brenda Williams                   85-88--173