MIDDLETON, Massachusetts – History will be made this summer when the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship kicks off at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois from July 12-15. In preparation for the Championship Proper, Mass Golf will welcome 20 women who will seek to earn entry into the main event at its sectional qualifier, being contested at Middleton’s Ferncroft Country Club on June 14.
Featuring a split field of 10 amateurs and 10 professionals, the 18-hole qualifier will see three competitors qualify while another two will compete for alternate positions. Of the 20 competitors in the field, several have ties to either USGA Championships Proper or ties to Mass Golf.
Wellesley Hills resident Pam Kuong, who finished as runner-up at the 2015 U.S. Senior Women Amateur at Hillwood Country Club in Tennessee, has long been associated with Mass Golf and its championship events. In addition to representing the Bay State on four USGA State Teams and competing each year for the Griscom Cup since 2008, Kuong was also the 2012 Mass Golf (formerly WGAM) Anne Marie Tobin Player of the Year.
Of the professional competitors, Hingham’s Pamela Johnson has enjoyed a successful stint on the LPGA Tour throughout the course of her career, tallying nearly $250,000 in career earnings. While currently the Ladies Clinic Instructor at Black Rock Country Club, Johnson also taught at PGA National Golf Academy in Palm Beach Gardens for 10 years and worked with golf legend and Massachusetts native Bob Toski, improving her skills as both a player and a teacher.
Several other professionals in the field work as golf professionals at area clubs.
In March, the USGA announced the names of than 100 professional and amateur golfers who earned exemption into the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship. Included in that list were two with Bay State ties – Pat Bradley and Meg Mallon. Bradley is a Westford native who was part of the first class of inductees into the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame, while Mallon is a Natick native and a two-time U.S. Women’s Open Champion.
Entries for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship are open to female professional golfers, amateur golfers, and applicants for reinstatement who have reached their 50th birthday by July 12, 2018.
Mass Golf will provide coverage for the U.S. Senior Open qualifier being contested in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts on June 5. Visit MassGolf.org and follow @PlayMassGolf on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest information. To join the conversation, use the hashtag #MassGolf and #USSeniorOpen
