Kathy Kurata of Pasadena captured the 43rd California Senior Women’s Amateur Championship by three strokes over defending champion Lara Tennant of Portland, Ore., at San Jose Country Club.
The 60-year-old Kurata, who earlier this year won the Southern California Senior Women’s Amateur Championship for the second straight year and the fourth time overall, posted a score of 73-76-76—225, 9-over par, while Tennant, who has claimed the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur each of the last three years, finished at 78-75-75—228.
“This is so huge because it’s a California Amateur event, it’s both the North and South,” said Kurata, who was the SCGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year in 2018 and 2020, and wrapped up the award for the third time. “This is always such a magnificent event. And to compete and win against this caliber of players, it’s very special.
“The greens were very challenging, so it helped me. You really had to concentrate out there. … Lara and I are good friends. We love the competition. Watching her beautiful game—it helps me.”
Said Tennant, who was trying to become the first repeat winner of the tournament since Corey Weworski of Carlsbad in 2017 and 2018: “The whole day I just didn’t play very well. Kathy was very consistent every day. She played very well.”
Itsuko Moridaira of Fairfield shot 82-77-77—236 to tie for third with Northern California Hall of Famer Sally Krueger of San Francisco, who came in at 76-81-79—236, while Shelly Haywood of Huntington Beach was fifth at 83-73-81—237, followed by Lynne Cowan of Rocklin, who won this tournament in 2014, 2015 and 2018, at 80-77-81—238.
Karen Garcia of Cool totaled 81-82-78—241 to tie for seventh with Cindy McConnell of Bishop, who wound up at 83-80-78—241, while Glenda Alexander of Long Beach was ninth at 79-85-79—243, followed by Colette Rosenberg of Pacific Palisades at 80-84-80—244.
Anna Schultz of Heath, Texas, claimed the Super Senior title with a score of 81-83-84—248, followed by Sandra Woodruff of Santa Cruz at 81-87-85—253, Marianne Towersey of Pebble Beach, who won the Cal Senior Women Am a record seven times, at 87-85-85—257, and Mary Budke of Rancho Mirage at 88-87-84—259.
For complete results, visit https://calam-43rdcaliforniaseniorwomensamateurc.golfgenius.com/pages/6964262868845876071
