Tennant captures US Senior Women's Amateur 3rd straight time

POINT CLEAR, Ala. (AP) — Lara Tennant captured the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur for the third straight time Thursday with a 2-and-1 victory over seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port in the rain-delayed championship match at The Lakewood Club.

Tennant, a 54-year-old from Portland, Oregon, pulled ahead on the back nine of the Dogwood course when Port missed the green on the par-5 12th and the par-4 14th. They matched bogeys on the 15th hole and pars on the next two holes to end the match.

Tennant's only loss in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur was her first match in 2017. She won in 2018 and 2019, and the championship was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She will try to join Carol Semple Thompson as the only players to win the Senior Women’s Amateur four straight times.

“I love that trophy. It’s so beautiful and it’s been at my house for quite a while, because of COVID and winning the two previous years, so I’ve gotten kind of attached to it,” Tennant said. “It’ll go in the front entry, where it’s been now for three years, as a beautiful reminder of how lucky I am.”

Port, of St. Louis, was trying to join Jack Nicklaus and JoAnne Carner with an eighth USGA title. She lost for only the second time in a USGA championship final.

Port and Tennant were partners in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball earlier this year.

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