Much was made in golf-related social and traditional media a couple of weeks ago when the news broke that Juli Inkster—LPGA legend, multiple major winner, and three-time Solheim Cup captain—had entered the April 26th U.S. Women’s Open qualifying tournament at Half Moon Bay Golf Links.
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| Juli Inkster watches the flight of her tee shot at the par-four 8th hole of the Half Moon Bay Golf Links Old Course in the second round of a qualifying tournament for the 2021 USGA U.S. Women’s Open. (photo by Gary K. McCormick) |
A Bay Area local, Inkster grew up in Santa Cruz, played college golf at San Jose State University, and lives in Los Altos Hills with her husband, Brian, who is the Director of Golf at Los Altos Golf and Country Club. Since home is just 40 minutes down the Peninsula from the Olympic Club in San Francisco, where the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open will be held in early June, she decided to take a shot at qualifying for the event.
“I’m probably an idiot for trying,” said 60-year-old Inkster, “but I think I would be disappointed in myself if I didn’t because it’s so close to home.”
She hasn’t played in a U.S. Women’s Open since 2015, when she finished T15 after four consecutive missed cuts in the event, but has two victories in the tournament to her credit, in 1999 and 2002, as well as four other top 10 finishes since 1988.
Inkster was by far the, uh, most experienced player in the field at the Half Moon Bay qualifier, and was paired with two of the youngest players in the event: Kiara Romero, a 15-year-old high school freshman from San Jose who was the 2019 – 2020 Junior Tour of Northern California Girls’ Player of the Year; and 16-year-old Harper Clementz of San Francisco, a sophomore at San Francisco University High School and a Junior Merit member at the Olympic Club who aspires to a career as a NASA Flight Director.
Thirty-six holes of golf on a challenging and hilly course like the Old Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links is a real test, and Juli was very encouraging to her two young playing partners throughout the long day. The holes at the Old Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links, a 1973 Arnold Palmer and Francis Duane design, are a banquet of uneven lies, strategic bunkering, and subtly contoured greens. Add to that mixture the fatigue of a long day—36 holes of golf with (as it turned out) only 15 minutes between rounds, the changing conditions that necessarily accompany a day of golf that stretches from an 8:20 a.m. tee time to nearly 6:30 p.m.—and even golfers with twice the experience of Kiara Romero and Harper Clementz will find the going tough.
Throughout the day Inkster was welcoming and encouraging to her two young playing partners, congratulating them on good shots (of which there were many) even as she concentrated on her own game. At the end of her round the girls took pictures with Juli, and Harper showed her a signed glove that she had brought with her – a glove that Juli gave her at the 2015 ANA Inspiration, which Harper’s parents took her to see when she was just getting into the game.
Unfortunately there was no fairytale ending to the day. Inkster finished 11 strokes out of a qualifying spot (three qualified out of a field of 73), and Kiara Romero, who possesses a swing that is so long and fluid that it begs to be set to music, actually bested her by three stokes—all in the final round. I’m sure that both Harper and Kiara will carry memories of this day with them throughout their lives in golf.
The gold medalist on the day was Benicia’s Kathleen Scavo, who recently concluded her college golf career at the University of Oregon and has embarked on a professional golf career, playing on the Symetra Tour. Second and third places, respectively, were claimed by Kelly Tan, an LPGA player originally from Malaysia, and another Bay Area native, Lucy Li, who won this qualifying event in 2014, when she became the youngest player to have ever qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open.
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