Storylines For 2009 USGA Senior Women's Amateur

Marlu Allan, 56, of Scottsdale, Ariz., is now retired but she spent 25 years in the computer industry, starting and running her own business.

Beatriz Arenas, 61, of Guatemala is a versatile person. She was not only a quarterfinalist in the 2007 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, but is a skilled artist and her paintings have led her to finish as a finalist in every prestigious exposition in Guatemala.

Marian Barker, 55, of Lubbock, Texas, and her husband Larry currently coach three high school girls golf teams in her hometown. Their Coronado team finished second in the 2007 state championship.

Tina Baker, 50, of Castro Valley, Calif., is an air traffic controller. She competed for California at the inaugural USGA Women's State Team Championship in 1995.

Nancy Beck, 52, of Dallas, Texas, is a cousin of the famous American writer John Dos Passos.

Cheryl Brayman, 58, of East Hills, N.Y., is an avid skiier. She invented, patented and manufactured nosewarmers for skiiers and snowboarders.

Sarah Bowman, 50, of Parkman, Wyo., is a rancher.

Gail Burden, 52, of Winfield, Kan., is a former Kansas state racquetball champion. This past summer she hiked the Inca Trail in Peru.

Barbara Byrnes, 55, of Mesa, Ariz., is treasurer of the Arizona Women’s Golf Association, which has 25,000 members. She was once in the middle of a tournament round when she stopped in a bathroom, the door latch broke and she was trapped. After someone broke down the door, she continued her round and won the tournament.

Anne Carr, 65, of Renton, Wash., has a number of interests. She was a computer programmer, Web site developer, real estate agent, horseback riding teacher, managed an art gallery and was a day trader. She has raced cars, was a competitive cross-country skier, hitchhiked alone through Europe, helped build a house for Habitat for Humanity, bicycles, water skis and plays the guitar.

Bonnie Catto, 58, of South Hadley, Mass., is a professor of classics at Assumption College. She is also a professional cellist and has written three books.

Marybeth Clippinger, 57, of Centennial, Colo., was a state and regional racquetball champion.

Carolyn Creekmore of Dallas, Texas, the 2004 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion, says one of her most meaningful experiences was helping to deliver the foals of three of her horses.

Susan Dye, 54, of England, was the 2007 English Stroke Play champion and 2008 English Match Play champion.

Kim Eaton, 50, of Greeley, Colo., is the executive director of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. She became involved with the Special Olympics as a police officer and had a Special Olympics athlete caddie for her several times in the Colorado Women’s Open.

Nadine Elliot, 53, of Bermuda Dunes, Calif., didn’t begin playing golf until the age of 30. One of her most memorable experiences was playing golf with actor Peter Falk in a pro-am at Riviera C.C. in Los Angeles.

Katie Ahern, 63, of Milwaukee, Wis., has competed for a number of years but never more successfully than when she defeated Nancy Lopez on her way to winning the 1973 Women’s Western Amateur.

Karen Fisher, 50, of Rockville, Md., is an engineer with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Rae Higdon, 59, of Boonville, Ind., represented her state on a 50-and-older basketball team in 2007. The team finished eighth in the Senior Olympics.

Debra Horning, 55, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., says she is sometimes known as “the cat woman” because her love of cats is her first passion and golf is second.

Sandra Jackson, 50, of New York, N.Y., is a Certified Public Accountant who is also the treasurer and a director of the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association.

Kim Kaul, 51, of Boston, N.Y., is an all-around athlete. Not only did she qualify for this national golf championship, she was an All-American softball player in 1993 and went to college on a basketball scholarship.

Bev Kim, 63, of Wahiawa, Hawaii, was born on April 1, 1946, during the some of the worst weather in Hawaii’s history, when a tsunami hit the island.

Kelly Koselek, 54, of Canada, was president of her Junior League chapter in Toronto and enjoys doing volunteer work. Last Thanksgiving she went to New Orleans to help with the on-going rebuilding projects in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Defending champion Diane Lang, 54, of Jamaica, again has Barry Smith as her caddie. He has caddied at each of her USGA Senior Women’s Amateur appearances since 2005, including three victories (2005, 2006 and 2008).

Martha Lang, 56, of Birmingham, Ala., won the 1988 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and is vice chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee.

Kathy Malpass, 53, of Evergreen, Colo., performed as a singer with a small group while in high school and sang on Chuck Mangeone’s “Land of Make Believe” album.

Jewell Malick, 60, of Rockwall, Texas, is a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve and served in the first Gulf War. She has also been a private pilot for more than 20 years.

Mary Helen McElreath, 55, of Augusta, Ga., was the first female to have a bicycle paper route in Augusta. Her paper route included homes on Washington Road, across from Augusta National Golf Club.

Judy Miller, 59, of Tucson, Ariz., recently adopted a desert tortoise who loves to eat prickly pear cactus.

Noreen Mohler, 55, of Bethlehem, Pa., will captain the 2010 USA Curtis Cup team.

Sue O’Connor, 52, of Lake Bluff, Ill., rode her bicycle 4,600 miles from Seattle, Wash., to Atlantic City, N.J., coast to coast.

Jan Phillips, 53, of Bonita Springs, Fla., says she has lived in 21 different towns in her life, including six states and three foreign countries.

Brenda Pictor, 54, of Marietta, Ga., shot a score of 59 in a couples’ tournament at Sunset Hills C.C. in Carrollton, Ga., on June 28th of this year. She has won two state championships, the Mississippi Women’s Amateur in 1980 and the Georgia Women’s Amateur in 1994.

Ann Probert, 70, of Mountain Lake, Fla., is a former member of the USGA Women’s Committee. This past summer she made her 10th hole-in-one with two of her children and three grandchildren on hand to see her feat.

Lisa Schlesinger, 51, of Laytonsville, Md., played professional basketball with the Washington Metros and New England Gulls in the WPBL. In 1985, she won the National Amateur Bench Pressing Championship, bench pressing 180 pounds. In 1996 she was inducted into the Greater Washington, D.C., Fast-Pitch Softball Hall of Fame.

Lida Tingley, 69, of Bloomfield, Conn., once received a three-minute golf lesson from Ben Hogan at Shady Oaks C.C. in Fort Worth, Texas.

Compiled by Rhonda Glenn, manager of communications for the USGA. E-mail her with questions or comments at rglenn@usga.org.