Gurnee's Fisher draws her own crowd at Senior Women's Open
Players and spectators alike at the U.S. Senior Women's Open voiced pleasure and even surprise at the number of spectators at Wheaton's Chicago Golf Club the first two days of the tournament.
Jamie Fischer, for one, had a personal gallery of around 50. One of two Illinoisans in the inaugural tournament along with Centralia's Nancy Scranton, Fischer is a Gurnee resident and director of instruction at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest. The three-time U.S. Women's Open qualifier said she spends 80 percent of her time teaching and coaching, and some of those students followed her to Wheaton.
Fischer opened competition Thursday with a 1-over par 74. On Friday she finished 4-over but her 151 total strokes still left her tied for 19th place 9 strokes behind co-leaders Trish Johnson and Laura Davies.
Fischer, named to the LPGA's 2017 "Top 50 Teacher's List," tried not to stare at the leader board's projected cutoff on her loop.
"I saw it and I was just like, don't worry about that, just play you own game and stay attentive to what's right here in front of you," Fischer said.
Unlike some golfers, she was paired with a highly familiar caddie, Jose Ornelas.
"He's one of our caddies at Conway Farms and he's done an incredible job," Fischer said. "I think we've paired up really well picking clubs and trying to find the right yardage and dealing with the firm conditions and the slopes and the greens."
See you next year:
LPGA and World Golf hall of famer Joanne Carner had stated she could shoot her age, 79, and on Thursday she did just that. It put her on the bubble to make the cut with a similar round on Friday. The household name fell off the pace, shooting a 10-over round of 83 that had her missing the cut.
"I'm very tired. You know, I never really got the rhythm of the swing today," said Carner, a Legends Tour regular.
She vowed to play at next year's Senior Women's Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in North Carolina.
"I'll be ready," Carner said. "I might retire for 10 months."
Playing with Carner and Hollis Stacy, who made the cut, was Sandra Palmer, 77. Though Palmer finished tied for 26th just last month at a Legends event in Washington, she never quite found her game at Chicago Golf.
"I drove the ball well but I didn't hit enough greens, and if you miss the greens here it's very difficult to get the ball up and down. I had to struggle too much on long putts and I had a lot of 3-putts, too. Nothing was sharp," she said.
She nonetheless relished the opportunity to play "a wonderful, great golf course," and share the experience with friends she's played with since turning professional in 1964.
"It's just great and I'm very proud that I was able to come," Palmer said. "I think the people at the USGA are probably a little surprised at the caliber of golf and how the girls really looked forward to this."
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