Carolyn Creekmore

Carolyn Creekmore, 52, of Dallas, Texas, built a 2-up lead with birdies on holes 10 and 11 and hung on to defeat Liz Haines, 56, of Gladwyne, Pa., 1 up, in the 18-hole final match at the USGA Senior Women's Amateur at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif..

Creekmore never trailed over the tough 5,790-yard layout, but had to wait until the 10th hole before she took the lead for good in this age 50-and-older championship. There she made a 12-footer that circled the hole before it fell in, then gained a concession on her 6-foot birdie putt on the following hole after Haines found trouble off the tee and was out of the hole.

Haines pulled to within 1 down when she chipped in from off the back of the 12th green, but could get no closer. From there, the two traded holes. Creekmore took the 14th with a par. Haines won the 15th with a birdie. Haines had a chance to square the match on the par-3 last hole, but she missed her uphill 6-footer for birdie, leaving Creekmore to two-putt from 25 feet for the win.

"I told myself, 'You don't have to make the first putt, just make sure you make the next putt,'" said Creekmore, whose second putt was about four feet away.

"This is something you want from the ti8me you start playing golf," said Creekmore, who tried professional golf for four years in her mid-20s before being reinstated as an amateur. "I've always heard people say, 'It hasn't sunk in.' I'm just numb. You think, 'Wow, how'd I do that!'"

Creekmore and Haines each had two winning pars through the first nine holes. Creekmore made a winning 6-footer for par at hole 2 and two-putted for a win at the par-3 fifth. However, she three-putted the sixth and eighth holes to allow Haines to pull all square.

Haines played well, but it was the missed last putt that stuck with her.

"I wish I had made that putt on 18," said Haines, looking back at her match. "I took advantage of any mistakes Carolyn made and I played my best golf all week long. I'd like to think that when a match is this close that it could go either way."

Creekmore, who raises horses on a 60-acre farm outside Dallas with her boyfriend Donnie Anderson, a former Green Bay Packers' running back for Vince Lombardi's Super Bowl champions of 1967 and 1968, was playing in her third Senior Women's Amateur. Her previous best in a USGA championship was twice reaching the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur (1997 and 1999). She also won the 1995 and 1997 Texas Women's Amateur.

This was Haines' 29th USGA championship, spanning more than 30 years. She was a semifinalist at the 2001 Senior Women's Amateur, but never was a finalist until now.