By Steve Derderian
sderderian@massgolf.org
SOUTHWICK, Massachusetts (July 21, 2025) – The wind was swirling and the targets weren’t always clear at The Ranch on Monday. It wasn’t Royal Portrush, but like the Open Championship venue across the Atlantic, it demanded a steady head and seasoned hands.
As the scores came in, Monday’s results confirmed expectations: nine players, all of whom had previously competed in a USGA championship, earned their way back to the national stage.
In the morning wave, Keith Smith (Franklin Country Club) earned medalist honors in U.S. Senior Amateur Qualifying. Doug Clapp (Old Sandwich Golf Club) and Jim Patterson (Orchards Golf Club) advanced in a playoff, claiming the final two spots at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas. Smith and Clapp return as seasoned veterans of the event. For Patterson, this marks his first USGA start since debuting at the 2021 U.S. Senior Open.
In the afternoon Jayne Pardus (Boston Golf Club) led the way, followed by Pamela Kuong (Charles River Country Club), Lisa McGill (Philadelphia, PA), Jen Holland (Guilford, CT), Erin O’Hara (Worcester Country Club), and Tracy Welch (The Country Club), each returning to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur this year at The Omni Homestead (Cascades Course) in Hot Springs, Virginia, with past appearances already under their belts.
View this post on Instagram
Very rarely is going low a requirement in these qualifying events. Yet all three players who advanced Monday delivered in moments that could have unraveled quickly.
Keith Smith set the pace with birdies on his first two holes, but gave those strokes back, including a double bogey on the par-4 7th. He regrouped with a birdie on the 9th and played steady, mistake-free golf on the back nine. At the downhill par-5 16th, he cleared the water with a 3-iron that carried over the heart of the green, setting up a two-putt birdie that capped a 2-under 70 and earned him medalist honors.
“It’s always a treat for sure,” said Smith, now a 3-time qualifier who reached the Round of 32 in 2021 at Country Club of Detroit, home of the PGA Tour’s Rocket Classic. “I’m 67 now, so I fear that those years are running out. When you get into an event like this, you really do start to get into grind mode. You can’t let a bogey derail you. You’ve got to stay mentally tough.”
Joining Smith at Oak Hills will be Western Massachusetts native Jim Patterson, who saved his most heroic golf for the final three holes of regulation.
Sitting at 2-over on the 16th tee, Patterson knew he needed birdies. After a poor punch-out from the rough that advanced just 25 feet, he stepped up and flushed a 5-iron to 3 feet for a kick-in birdie. He followed with another clutch shot on 17, drawing it across the wind and over the water to 7 feet, and calmly made the putt to get back to even.
An aggressive approach into 18 left him in the bunker, but he splashed out to 3 feet and saved par to force a playoff. Back on the par-4 14th, his drive found the right rough, and though his neon ball nearly rolled in from the back of the green on his birdie bid, he tapped in to clinch his spot as the final playoff qualifier.
Patterson, who previously qualified for the 2021 U.S. Senior Open in Omaha, returns to the USGA stage for the second time, once again alongside his friend Doug Clapp, just as they did four years ago.
“I’ve been dying to get back,” Patterson said. “Getting out here to put together a good round, finally, without too many huge mistakes, was a good feeling. My son Matt usually caddies for me. He couldn’t be here today, but he was texting me for updates the whole time.”
Clapp, the third and final qualifier, leaned on his experience to punch his ticket to what will be his 23rd USGA championship.
He birdied his first two holes, including a 12-foot eagle look on the par-5 opener and a 6-footer on the second. He missed a short chance at the 3rd and gave back strokes on the tougher middle stretch, but a bounce-back birdie steadied the round, and he finished at even-par 72 to earn a playoff spot.
In the playoff, Clapp pulled his drive but found the fairway. His 8-iron approach came out thin and ran to the back of the green, leaving a testy two-putt alongside Patterson. As he’s done many times before, Clapp delivered, rolling in a 5-footer for par after Chicago’s Bill Frain failed to get up and down from the front bunker.
“Sometimes you hit two great shots and make bogey,” Clapp said. “This time, the golf gods smiled on me and it worked out.”
Bonus note: Will Cropper (Blissful Meadows Golf Course) and his wife Lisa Cropper (Blissful Meadows Golf Course) both competed in USGA Qualifying on Monday at The Ranch.
COMPLETE LIST OF SENIOR AMATEUR QUALIFIERS AND ALTERNATES FROM THE RANCH GC:
QUALIFIERS (Names; Cities); Score
Keith Smith, Franklin, MA; 70 (-2)
Jim Patterson, Southampton, MA; 72 (E)*
Doug Clapp, Manomet, MA; 72 (E)*
ALTERNATES (In Order)
Bill Frain Chicago, IL; 72 (E)
John McNeill, Stow, MA; 73 (+1)**
*Advanced with a par on the first playoff hole (No.14)
**Earn spot with a birdie on the first playoff hole (No. 14)
U.S. WOMEN’S SENIOR AMATEUR RECAP
With four Massachusetts players among the six who qualified Monday for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, the hope now is that any all-state or rematches won’t come too soon.
Last year at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle, Jayne Pardus and Pamela Kuong, both longtime fixtures on the national senior stage, faced off in the Round of 32, with Pardus winning 2&1 before falling in the next round. Kuong also opened match play against Massachusetts Golf Hall of Famer Tara Joy-Connelly, who is exempt into this year’s event. They’ll all be heading back to this year’s championship, joined by fellow Bay Staters Erin O’Hara and Tracy Welch, as well as Lisa McGill and Jen Holland, who all shot 75 and have experience in the Championship Proper.
Pardus led the field at even-par, continuing her streak of qualifying for every U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur in which she’s been eligible. Pardus wasn’t exactly on target to open the day, flying the green on the opening hole and hitting it past the hole again on the short, par-4 2nd. She escaped both with pars and made birdie on the three of the four par-5s, including the 16th, where she hit an 8-iron to about 15 feet and made the putt to cushion her lead.
“I was really focused today. I had some three-putts, but I also had some really good birdies and stuck to the plan,” Pardus said. “I didn’t have a big number and just did a lot of things that I purposely wanted to do and stayed intentional today.”
Kuong, who made the final match a decade ago, posted a 74 and leaned on sharp short game play to get through. Her member caddie marveled at a pair of up-and-downs during the round, calling them “two of the most impossible places,” though Kuong was glad he didn’t say that in the moment.
She’ll be part of a familiar group heading back to the championship, and the return of Doug Clapp on the men’s side wasn’t lost on her either. She said Clapp told her mid-round, “I’m a USGA qualifier. That’s what I do,” and encouraged her to carry that same mindset. “He’s a USGA machine,” she said afterward.
O’Hara was part of the four-way tie at 75, highlighted by birdies on the par-3 17th and the finale on the 9th, avoiding the hazard short of the green and leaving herself a tap-in. She credited her caddie, Marty McDonald, for helping her stay calm and focused, particularly on the greens. The pair worked through every read together and leaned on trust when they didn’t initially agree. O’Hara reflected on what it means to qualify again, calling the USGA experience “incredible” and saying, “To get there once is like, incredible, and to get there twice, it’s like, I have no words. I’m just super excited about it.
Welch, McGill, and Holland all posted matching 75s to secure the final three qualifying spots. With the clubhouse waiting on Welch’s group to finish to determine a playoff, she was able to birdie 17, which was critical as she three-putted the 18th for bogey. Welch made event history three years ago when she became the first person to make a hole-in-one in a USGA event held in Alaska.
But like most past accolades, they can only carry you so far. Pardus, like the others, quickly shifted her focus to the next challenge, echoing the sentiment of a certain well-known football coach.
“This is just to qualify,” she said. “It’s great if you get [medalist]. But we’re on to Virginia.”
Bonus Note: Anthony Pioppi, a longtime golf writer, historian, archeologist was on the bag for Danielle Lee, who finished with a round of 79.
View this post on Instagram
COMPLETE LIST OF WOMEN’S SENIOR AMATEUR QUALIFIERS AND ALTERNATES FROM THE RANCH GC:
QUALIFIERS (Names; Cities); Score
Jayne Pardus, Boston, MA; 72
Pamela Kuong, Wellesley Hills, MA; 74
Lisa Mcgill, Philadelphia, PA; 75
Jen Holland, Guilford, CT; 75
Erin O’Hara, Worcester, MA; 75
Tracy Welch, Winchester, MA; 75
ALTERNATES (In Order)
Sue Curtin, Westwood, MA; 76
*Patricia Mayne, Guilderland, NY; 77
*Earned spot with a par on the first playoff hole (No. 10)
Situated in Southwick, just minutes from the Connecticut border, The Ranch Golf Club is widely regarded as one of the top golf courses in the state of Massachusetts. Being a public course, The Ranch has made its way onto many ‘Must Play’ and ‘Best Public Courses’ lists from respected golf publications like LINKS Magazine, GolfWeek and Golf World.
The course was opened in 2001, and is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. It was designed by Damian Pascuzzo who is most known for his work on west coast courses like La Quinta CC (La Quinta, CA). Pascuzzo does have a small collection of east coast designs that includes another Mass Golf Member Club, Indian Pond Country Club.
The 16th, widely-known as “The Ski Hill”, is one of the longest par-5s in the state. Located in the front corner of the property, the back tee towers well over 100 feet above the green. A well-struck shot will ride the slope to the fairway that snakes between two ponds short of the green for a potential risk-reward shot.
Since 2022, The Ranch is has also been a program location for First Tee – Massachusetts, the state’s chapter of the national youth development organization where kids and teens are learning life lessons and leadership skills through golf.
The 70th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship is set to take place at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas from August 23-28.
The A.W. Tillinghast design from 1922 will host two days of Stroke Play and three days of Match Play for the 64 players that make the cut. One course oddity, holes 9 and 18 at Oak Hills Country Club are par-3s, making it one of the few courses in the world where both closing holes of each nine end with a one-shotter.
The championship is open to any golfer who is 55 years of age as of August 23 and whose Handicap Index® does not exceed 5.4
The U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur was first contested in 1962, functioning as a three-day stroke play competition until 1997, when match play was introduced. This year, the USGA accepted 492 entries for 132 slots in the final field.
The 2025 Championship will be held at The Omni Homestead (Cascades Course), Hot Springs, Va. Female golfers over the age of 50 as of September 18, whose Handicap Index® does not exceed 14.4., are eligible. The Championship consists of two days of stroke play, followed by a 64-player match play bracket that is resolved over the next four days.
Hall of Famer Tara Joy-Connelly (The Kittansett Club) is one of 28 players exempt for being in the top 30 age-eligible points leaders in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking as of July 2.
Stay Informed
Visit MassGolf.org and follow @PlayMassGolf on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube for the latest information on Mass Golf championships and events. To join the conversation, use the hashtag #MassGolf.
