CHATANOOGA, Tenn. (Sept. 15, 2011)
– Terri Frohnmayer, 55, of Salem,
Ore., who is nicknamed “Little
Bit,” was a giant-killer in defeating Mina
Hardin, 51, of Fort Worth, Texas, and winning
the 2011 USGA Senior Women’s
Amateur at the 5,876-yard, par-72 Honors
Course.
Consistently out-hit from the tee,
Frohnmayer beat Hardin, the defending
champion, 2 and 1. On Wednesday, although
out-driven by as much as 70 yards, she also
knocked off Lisa Schlesinger of Laytonsville,
Md., and Kim Eaton of Greeley, Colo., in the
semifinals and quarterfinals,
respectively.
“I’m certainly not a long ball
hitter like Mina is,” said Frohnmayer,
“but it’s not the drive. It’s
how you arrive. I just played the holes like I
played all week. Just stay in the middle and
get it on the green in regulation and two-
putt.”
As the two players walked off the 17th
green, where the match ended, Hardin told
Frohnmayer, “You played beautifully. It
was a wonderful match. Enjoy
it.”
With overcast weather making the greens
receptive to Frohnmayer’s hybrid wood
shots, she was able to stop her approach
shots to the green, very often near the
hole.
But Frohnmayer had to come from behind
to win her first national championship. Hardin
got off to a good start and won the second
and fourth holes to take a 2-up lead.
Frohnmayer then won the fifth hole with a par
and the sixth with a birdie to square the
match.
On the 140-yard, par-3 eighth hole,
Frohnmayer rammed in an 18-foot birdie putt
to take the lead for the first
time.
“That was a little bit unexpected
when she made that long putt,” Hardin
said. “She just knocked it right in. She
hit beautiful shots and she had it all going
today.”
Frohnmayer hit her approach shot into a
water hazard on No. 9 and Hardin won the hole
with a birdie to square the match, but her
hopes for a repeat were dashed when her
opponent won three straight holes, beginning
at the
11th.
Hardin hit her tee shots into water hazards
on the 11th and 13th holes, making a bogey
and a double-bogey to lose the holes. On the
315-yard, par-4 12th, Frohnmayer hit a
pitching wedge from 108 yards to within 3 1/2
feet and made the birdie putt to win the
hole.
At the end of the stretch of three holes,
the 5’1”, 105-pound Frohnmayer
was 3 up. She lost the par-3 16th hole when
she hit her tee shot into a water hazard,
making a double bogey to Hardin’s
birdie. At the 17th, now dormie 2, Frohnmayer
made a routine par to halve the hole and win
the match.
In a field of experienced competitors,
Frohnmayer was playing in just her third
national championship. She lost to Betsy King
in the second round of the 1973 U.S.
Girls’ Junior and was a member of the
Rollins College team that played in the 1978
National Women’s Collegiate
Championship.
After college she went to work in real
estate and put away her golf clubs. She began
playing again in 2003. After her mother died in
2007, Frohnmayer returned to competition
because her mother had urged her to. She won
the 2010 Pacific Northwest Golf
Association’s Women’s Senior
Championship but was little known outside of
the Pacific Northwest.
“Life’s really short and I
love being outdoors,” Frohnmayer said.
“It doesn’t get any better than
being on a golf course.”
Frohnmayer knew few players when she
arrived at The Honors Course, but was
befriended by volunteers. One couple, friends
of Frohnmayer’s caddie, Bob Lawson,
took her to dinner. The couple owns a
fragrance company and concocted a scent of
lavender and French vanilla for Frohnmayer.
The fragrance is named,
“Victory.” &n
bsp;
“It smells really good,” said
Frohnmayer.
The USGA Senior Women’s
Amateur is one of 13 national championships
conducted by the United States Golf
Association. Ten are strictly for
amateurs.
Match Play Results
Final
Terri Frohnmayer, Salem,
Ore. (157) def. Mina Hardin, Fort
Worth, Texas (148), 2 and
1