In a field full of some of the game’s most established amateur legends, Nadene Gole may not have been the obvious favorite to win the 62nd U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, held this week at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle, Wash. But when you look at her resume, well, maybe she should have been.
Currently ranked No. 116 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®, far and away the highest-ranked female senior in the world, Gole defeated 2022 champion Shelly Stouffer, of Canada, 3 and 2 to win her first USGA title in just her second USGA championship appearance.
“It's amazing. It really is,” said Gole, of Australia, who first competed in a USGA championship at last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. “It probably will not sink in for a while. I'm happy to be taking it back to Australia, I really am. I've just taken an R&A trophy back there, so hopefully it grows the sport and people are inspired by it and have a bit more fun with the game.”
It was Gole, 55, who jumped out to a small early lead, taking a 1 up advantage with a par on the second hole. Stouffer quickly leveled the match with a par on the third, but Gole responded by notching the first birdie of the day on the par-4 fourth to reclaim her advantage. A bogey from Stouffer on the seventh allowed Gole to stretch her lead to 2 up.
It would take the 2022 champion until the ninth hole to secure her first birdie of the day, but it allowed her to close the deficit back to 1 down at the turn. The 54-year-old seemed to find her form a bit with the birdie, following it up with a 30-foot par save on No. 10 after finding the fairway bunker. A Gole bogey on the same hole would bring the match back to tied.
“That was nice,” said Stouffer of the ninth and tenth holes. “Hitting the flag on 10 and making that long one. That kind of got me going. I missed a few putts, and she was making some long putts. Someone had to be the loser today.”
With the match level, Stouffer would once again turn in a great up and down on the 11th hole, missing the green left with her tee shot before sinking a 10-footer for par.
But after a birdie on the 12th hole to regain the lead, momentum would officially shift back to the Australian on the 13th, who followed up a tap-in par by Stouffer by pouring in an 18-foot slider for par to halve the hole. A big fist pump would follow. Hole wins on Nos. 14 and 15 would extend the lead to 3 up, the largest of the match, and one that would not be relinquished.
"For me, I just go and play golf,” said Gole. “I knew I was playing really tough competitors yesterday and today, and every match, I always have respect for who I play. But I just go and try to play golf the best I can.”
While Gole may not be as familiar a name in the United States as some of the 12 USGA champions who were in the field to start the week, she has dominated senior amateur golf in Australasia over the last few years. In 2024 alone, Gole has won the Victorian Senior Amateur, South Australia Senior Amateur, R&A Women’s Senior Amateur, New Zealand Senior and Tasmanian Senior Amateur.
By her side every step of the championship, which for Gole consisted of 36 holes of stroke play and 97 holes of match play, was her husband, Sam. For Gole, having him by her side meant a something extra special, given Sam came down with sepsis just eight weeks ago, and was told it could be fatal.
“We had just got back from having a massive time winning at the R&A senior,” said Gole of her husband’s unexpected illness. “He started feeling unwell. He had sepsis and septicemia, and he had about 12 to 18 hours to live. They luckily got the right antibiotic.
I just didn't think I'd be here. I honestly wasn't even thinking about playing golf. This morning, when I woke up, I was very emotional. Life's very fragile, and I went through a month where I didn't know what I was doing. I was just driving to the hospital and doctors and doing life, whatever it was meant to throw at us.”
What The Champion Receives
A gold medal
Custody of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Trophy for one year
A 10-year exemption into the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur
An exemption into the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore.
Two-year exemptions into the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur (2025 and 2026) and U.S. Senior Women’s Open (2025 and 2026)
Notable
Next year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur will be held at The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va., from Sept. 13-18
On the bag for Stouffer was 2002 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Kathy Hartwiger, who lost to Stouffer in the quarterfinals this week. After the defeat, Hartwiger picked up Stouffer’s bag for both the semifinals and championship match.
En route to the final match, Gole defeated several USGA veterans, including last year’s runner-up and two-time Curtis Cup competitor Brenda Corrie Kuehn, 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Martha Leach and Dawn Woodard, who has competed in more than 20 USGA championships.
Gole is the first Australian to win the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. She joins Minjee Lee (U.S. Girls’ Junior, U.S. Women’s Open), Gabriela Ruffels (U.S. Women’s Amateur), Jan Stephenson (U.S. Women’s Open) and Karrie Webb (U.S. Women’s Open) as Australian females to win USGA championships.
Quotable
“I think about a compatriot of mine, Sue Wooster, who has had three runners-up, and she's been such a great ambassador for our sport, senior women's golf.” - Gole on winning this title as an Australian
“It was a great week. It's awesome just to get in the finals. I'm very proud of myself. I'm not really disappointed. How do you be disappointed, really? I gave it my best effort, and it wasn't good enough today.” - Stouffer on what she takes out of the week
“I think definitely friendships here at the club. Just really living in the moment, enjoying everything that I do. I can say appreciating family and friends and being able to do what I do.” - Gole on what she takes out of the week
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