Americans Bryan Hoops and Lara Tennant swept The R&A's senior championships at Frilford Heath in Oxfordshire, England, with Hoops capturing the Senior Amateur in dominant fashion and Tennant rallying past England's Emma Brown for her second Women's Senior Amateur title.
Hoops, a 57-year-old from Tempe, Ariz., closed with a 6-under 66 — the second-lowest round of the week — to finish at 10-under 278, six clear of England's John Kemp and Australia's Richard Heath. The world's top-ranked senior amateur was making just his second appearance in the championship after an 11th-place finish at Walton Heath a year ago.
Hoops called it the best win of his career, noting that while he has won plenty in the United States and abroad, a national championship stands apart. He said the week validated the effort of traveling and adapting to overseas conditions, and that seeing his name on a trophy alongside American greats Mike McCoy, Gene Elliott and Paul Simson made him especially proud. Remarkably, a missed two-footer on the 72nd hole Thursday was his only three-putt of the championship.
The women's championship produced far more drama. Tennant, the 59-year-old from Portland, Ore., who won this title in 2019 at Royal St David's and claimed three straight U.S. Senior Women's Amateurs from 2018-21, trailed Brown by three through nine holes of the final round. She then played the inward nine in 1-under 36 while Brown stumbled home in 44, dropping seven shots over her last five holes including double bogeys at the 14th and 16th.
Tennant's steadiness showed at the 15th, where she drove into a fairway bunker, laid out, and saved par from 100 yards with a 25-foot putt she called a turning point. At the 16th, her approach from the rough struck the flagstick and settled inside three feet.
Her closing 2-under 72 on Frilford's Red Course left her at 2-over 296, five ahead of Brown, with Brown's 2002 Curtis Cup teammate Kerry Smith another shot back in third. In four starts in the championship, Tennant now owns two wins and a runner-up finish.