2oo7 Storylines

MOST APPEARANCES – Following is a list of the most appearances by the players in the field of 132:

21 – Anne Sander, Seattle, Wash.

21 – Marlene Stewart Streit, Canada

14 – Alice Harcourt, Fallbrook, Calif.

13 -- Taffy Brower, Boynton Beach, Fla.

12 – Nancy Fitzgerald, Carmel, Ind.

10 – Toni Wiesner, Fort Worth, Texas

 9 – Carol Semple Thompson, Sewickley, Pa.

 9 – Connie Shorb, York, Pa.

USGA CHAMPIONSHIPS – Four-time champion Carol Semple Thompson, 57, of Sewickley, Pa., is playing in her 106th USGA Championship. Anne Sander, 70, of Seattle, Wash., is playing in her 98th USGA championship and is also a four-time champion.

The record-holding Thompson has 41 Women's Amateurs, 32 Women's Opens, 20 Women's Mid-Amateurs, nine Senior Women's Amateurs and four Girls' Juniors. Sander's record includes 44 Women's Amateurs, 21 Senior Women's Amateurs, 16 Women's Mid-Amateurs, 15 Women's Opens and two Girls' Juniors. To put these records in perspective, life-long male amateurs Bill Campbell and Chick Evans each had 69 USGA appearances, followed by Jack Nicklaus (67) and Arnold Palmer (61).

BIRTHDAYS – Nancy Markey of San Francisco, Calif., (9/5); Ann Sander of Seattle, Wash., (8/31); Barbara Byrnes of Mesa, Ariz. (9/2) and Karen Ferree of Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Player Capsules

Beatriz Arenas, 59, of Guatemala, is a painter, specializing in oils. She has played for Guatemala four times in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championships. Her son, Luis Eduardo, who plays collegiate golf at Western Kentucky, is her caddie.

Terrie Avazian, 55, of Cardiff, Calif., is a pilot for U.S. Airways. She is playing in her first Senior Women’s Amateur but has played in four previous USGA events – two Women’s Amateurs and two Women’s Mid-Amateurs. In 1992, she advanced to round of 16 at the Women’s Mid-Amateur. Her husband, Doug, is her caddie.

Kris Berger, 51, of Hilton Head Island, S.C., has had five career holes-in-one. The first was when she was pregnant with her daughter Stephanie. Another occurred at the par-3 third hole at Porter Valley C.C. in Northridge, Calif., making her the fifth person in her family to ace that hole. Her husband, brother and parents have all scored aces there.

Cheryl Brayman, 56, of East Hills, N.Y., is an avid skier. She invented a nosewarmer and has supervised the entire process from design, development, and production.

An emergency room doctor, Mary Budke, 53, of Eugene, Ore., won the 1972 U.S. Women’s Amateur, played on the 1974 USA Curtis Cup team and was the captain of 2002 USA Curtis Cup team.

Gail Burden, 50, of Winfield, Kan., is playing in her first USGA championship. She is an optometrist and plays ‘principal’ trumpet for the Winfield City and Southwest Regional Symphony. And, she was the Kansas State racquetball champion in 1981.

Ginny Burkey, 52, of Firecrest, Wash., is a flight attendant. 

Marsha Butler, 57, of San Diego, Calif., has come full circle with her amateur golf career. As Marsha Houghton, she had a junior career that featured advancing to the round of 16 at the Girls’ Junior in 1962 at age 12 and qualifying for match play at the 1964 U.S. Women’s Amateur at age 14. She quit golf at age 21 and began playing competitive tennis. After 20 years, she began playing golf again and was serious about competition six years ago. At the 2002 Senior Women’s Amateur, she advanced to the semifinals. It was her first USGA event in nearly 30 years.

Barbara Byrnes, 53, of Mesa, Ariz., is the president of the Arizona Women’s Golf Association. She is a retired financial executive and is playing in her fourth Senior Women’s Amateur. She will be celebrating a birthday on Sept. 2.

Madeline Campbell, 57, of Newport Beach, Calif., runs a beauty supply store/salon. She is a director of the chamber of commerce in Fountain Valley, Calif. She went back to study for her MBA in 2000.

Bonnie Catto, 56, of South Hadley, Mass., is a professor of classics at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass. Her husband, Alistair, is playing at the Senior Amateur at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan. She has published three books on classics and is working on a fourth. She also plays cello in a regional symphony.

Louise Cooley Davis, 54, of Los Angeles, Calif., is a practicing ophthalmologist. She is playing in her first Senior Women’s Amateur and her caddie is her husband Rich Davis, who is a three-time alternate for the Senior Amateur.

Cynthia Curry, 66, of Charlotte, N.C., is playing in her eighth Senior Women’s Amateur. She and her husband, Hal – who is caddying this week – have been participating in archeological digs for 16 years.

Linda Dillon, 59, of Winter Park, Fla., is playing in her first Senior Women’s Amateur but she was a semifinalist (as Linda Morris) at the 1964 Girls’ Junior.

Natalie Easterly, 53, of Richmond, Va., is playing in her second Senior Women’s Amateur. She is a floral artist but is also a member of the Virginia State Golf Association and Hollins University Halls of Fame. She is the daughter of the late Harry Easterly, who was the USGA’s executive director (1980-83) and USGA president (1976-77).

Joan Edwards-Powell, 62, of Portland, Ore., has won eight Oregon Women’s Golf Association Match Play titles and fourth Oregon Golf Association Senior Match Play championships. She is a member of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame and has won more PNGA championships than anyone.

Terry Ehrhardt, 53, of Waco, Texas, is the department chair of golf course and landscape management at Texas State Technical College. She assisted with course set at the PGA’s Colonial tour stop in 2003, the year Annika Sorenstam played.

Sue Erredge, 52, of Glendale, Ariz., is a practicing podiatrist and foot surgeon.

Katie Falk, 61, of Milwaukee, Wis., won the 1973 Women’s Western Amateur, defeating Nancy Lopez in the semifinals. She is an inductee (1993) in the Wisconsin State Hall of Fame. She played in the U.S. Women’s Open in 1977 and 1978.

Karen Ferree, 56, of Hilton Head Island, S.C., whose husband Jim played on the PGA Tour, will celebrate a birthday on Sept. 2. She is a reinstated amateur and was a semifinalist in 2001.

Mazzie Gogolak, 57, of Naples, Fla., holed out from 72 yards in qualifying to earn a spot in a playoff. She summers in Maine where she is the president of a local community center. Her husband, Charlie, is her caddie. He was the No. 1 draft choice of the New England Patriots in 1966 and was one of the pioneering soccer style kickers in the National Football League.

Chris Giza, 57, of Gilbert, Ariz., was born in Japan and is a pilot for the U.S. Marshals Service.

Sarah Haas, 52, of Carterville, Ill., hosts a weekly radio show during the golf season. She played golf with rocker Alice Cooper on Aug. 25. She is a high school teacher and golf coach.

Alice Harcourt, 64, of Fallbrook, Calif., is a testament to the power of the human spirit. She has stage-4 ovarian cancer and was first diagnosed in November of 2005. While still in chemotherapy, she is playing in her 14th Senior Women’s Amateur. Her husband, Larue, will caddy for her for the 14th time at this championship. Her first Senior Women’s Amateur was 1993 and her most recent was 2005.

Lou Hart, 55, of Meridian, Miss., is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame with her father, H.G., the first ever father-daughter tandem.

Mimi Hoffman, 51, of Springfield, Va., is an aerospace engineer and is playing in her second Senior Women’s Amateur.

Holly Horwood, 55, of Canada, is a retired journalist/news reporter. She qualified in Eugene, Ore., with a set of rental clubs because hers were lost in transit.

Debbie Jamgochian, 53, of Greenwich, Conn., was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001. It hasn’t kept her off the course course for long. She won the Southern New England Senior and the Senior French Open this season. As a collegian known as Debbie Simourian, she was the NCAA runner-up at Wheaton College in 1975.

Charlotte Jorgensen, 59, of Windsor, Colo., coached Wray H.S. to four consecutive girls’ state basketball titles (1976-79). The team is the only school of any category to accomplish that feat.

Patty Kimball, 56, of Scottsdale, Ariz., is playing in her first Senior Women’s Amateur. She holds a doctorate in immunology and is a vice president for development and does not find much time for golf. She was a competitive paint horse rider.

Rise Lakowske, 51, of Corvallis, Ore., the women’s golf coach at Oregon State, is playing in her first Senior Women’s Amateur but is no stranger to USGA competition. She was a semifinalist at the 1976 Women’s Amateur and a quarterfinalist at the 1990 Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Loree McKay, 50, of Portland, Ore., is playing in her first Senior Women’s Amateur but first USGA event since the 1988 Women’s Amateur. Her caddie is Pumpkin Ridge’s renowned golf instructor Jerry Mowlds. She is a reinstated amateur.

Georgia McCravey, 52, of Chattanooga, Tenn., is a high school golf coach (Girls Preparatory School), which she attended. She adopts and rescues animals and currently has four dogs and two cats.

Barbara Millslagle, 59, of Holualoa, Hawaii, runs a family coffee farm with her husband, Bob. They live on the property.

Cindy Pallantino, 50, of Denver, Colo., has Kelly Schaub, a member of the CN Canadian Tour as her caddie. In February of this year, she appeared on the ‘Judge Judy’ television show for a bad business deal with a commissioned painting. She and her sister, Ruth, caught a bank robber in Washington, D.C. in 1985.

Linda Pearson, 52, of Glendale, Calif., is a restaurant owner. She played left-handed for 30 years and six months ago switched to right-handed and holds the same handicap.

Tanna Lee Richard, 50, of Fort Smith, Ark., is playing in her first Senior Women’s Amateur but her 29th USGA championship (13 Women’s Amateurs and 15 Women’s Mid-Amateurs).  She and her husband, Ron, were both quarterfinalists at their respective Mid-Amateurs in 1989.

Anna Schultz, 52, of Rockwall, Texas, was the runner-up in 2006. She was also the runner-up at the 2000 Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Lisa Smego, 51, of Olympia, Wash., is a property/casualty manager in the state office of insurance. She is the architect of the medical malpractice insurance reform legislative package that passed in Washington State in 2006.

Anne Zahn, 58, of Minnetoka Beach, Minn., is playing in her fourth Senior Amateur. She was the women’s golf coach at the University of Minnesota from 1982-87.