A legend shares her wisdom at local U.S. Women’s Open qualifier

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.

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.

Return to the Ocean Course – Half Moon Bay Golf Links lures me back

I first played the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links some five years ago, and again, once or twice, in the next couple of years. Realizing that I hadn’t visited in at least three years, I recently booked a tee time there, taking advantage of the combination of their very friendly twilight rates and the long days as the summer solstice approaches.

Half Moon Bay Golf Links’ combination of a classic linksland golf course – the Ocean Course – and the traditional sunset piper may have you thinking you’re playing a round at the home of golf and not in Northern California.Photo courtesy The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay

Everything was as I remembered it from earlier visits. The service at the pro shop is exemplary, from check-in to getting your clubs secured in your cart. The course conditions during my recent visit were similarly top-notch. Helped, no doubt, by the past winter’s abundant rain, the fairways and greens were in beautiful shape, and even the rough and native areas were manageable (don’t ask me how I know this…).

As I mentioned in my 2013 article on the Ocean Course, the sister layout to Half Moon Bay’s Arnold-Palmer-designed Old Course is as close to true Scottish links golf as I think you are likely to find on the West Coast. The coastal shelf which lies between the crashing Pacific surf and the Coast Range hills in long, intermittent stretches from as far north as Mendocino to south of Big Sur is perhaps a bit more fertile than the semi-barren linksland which sheep—and bored Scottish shepherds—transformed into the home of golf, but the rolling terrain, fescue turf, and wind-dominated weather present a reasonable facsimile of the ancestral conditions.

There is one small drawback to a twilight round on the Ocean Course, and it’s dictated by a convergence of the course’s physical layout and its geographic setting. We think of the sun setting straight away from the shoreline on the Pacific Coast, but as the sun approaches its most northerly position in the sky in the run up to the solstice, that’s not strictly true, and the golden orb sinks into the sea 30-odd degrees north of west. While the coastline runs almost exactly north and south at Half Moon Bay, the sun is setting further north—and several of the holes on the Ocean Course are laid out at angles that line up almost directly into the setting sun. If you are having a less-than-straight driving day, those into-the-sun tee shots and approach shots, especially on the back nine, can be problematic.

Golf is an outdoor activity, though, so we expect weather and light conditions that are not always ideal—it’s part of the game. Awareness of weather conditions and how they can affect play are part of the deal, and part of what makes golf such a challenging and, ultimately, satisfying game. In the end, what counts is the whole experience, and the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links provides a rare and very satisfying golf experience. The wide, inviting fairways present challenges by way of subtle contours and uneven lies, and the smooth-rolling greens require a bit of close study to determine the breaks and the true line to the hole.

I love a good American Parkland-style golf course (like Half Moon Bay’s Old Course), but the Ocean course is a nice look at the other side of golf – virtually treeless, with close-cropped fescue turf that invites the running game when windy conditions dictate it; and all without the cost of a flight to Scotland! The Ocean course will challenge you, without a doubt; with slopes ranging from 119 (red tees) to 136 (whites, for women) it is definitely a course which demands respect, but which also rewards good play.