There is heritage in the image of Brenda Corrie Kuehn walking the fairways while eight months’ pregnant in the 2001 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Golf and Lodge.
Her daughter Rachel was born a week after the event and gave Kuehn and husband, Eric, an oncologist, two young children.
Golf was important, but family was the priority. So, after her ninth U.S. Women’s Open, Kuehn focused on family.
“That was the time I closed the chapter on golf and switched focus,” said Kuehn, who grew up in the Dominican Republic.
Kuehn had come to the U.S. on a golf scholarship to Wake Forest, where the baby she carried, daughter Rachel, followed her as an All-American three decades later.
That path was forged by the Corrie family in which Brenda’s parents, Jack and Carmen, were leaders in the Dominican’s golf legacy. Dad was on the Venezuelan team that participated in the first World Amateur Team Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews in 1958 and added seven other appearances for either Venezuela or the Dominican Republic. Mom was the captain of the Dominican team, led by Brenda, that played for the Espirito Santo Trophy at the World Amateur in 1986.
As she prepared for the 61st U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, taking place this week at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona – it is coincidentally her 61st USGA championship or international competition – she feels a deep debt of gratitude to her parents.
“I look at the blessings that I have and the family that I grew up in,” said Kuehn, who resides in Asheville, North Carolina. “I am really fortunate because my mom and dad were so supportive and such great role models and teachers.”
The Corrie Kuehns have a daughter and two sons, all of whom played or currently play college golf: Rachel, who is in her fifth year at Wake Forest and a four-time All-American, two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and a member of an NCAA title team (2022); Corrie played at Rhodes College; and Taylor is a freshman at Samford University where he is on the golf team.
“We were talking about getting old,” Kuehn said. “[Eric] said, ‘I wouldn’t change a thing,’ and I said the same. I never thought that I would be so fortunate to spend this journey with my kids the way I did.”
Kuehn, who could not play a full competitive golf schedule in the Dominican because tournaments were extremely limited, had her eye on a Wake Forest business degree but also a chance to test her golf skills.
“Coming to college was an opportunity to play golf and compete against the best girls in the United States,” Kuehn said. She is now a member of the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame (1999), the National Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2004) and, most recently, the Dominican Sports Hall of Fame, joining her father and others such as Major League Baseball greats David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez.
“Imagine me with them,” she said.
Kuehn thrived in the cauldron of American college golf and became Wake Forest’s initial first-team All-America selection, winning the ACC individual title in 1986 as the Demon Deacons captured the team championship. In 2002, she was named to the ACC’s 50th anniversary team.
“I enjoy being around the girls, seeing the interaction between the girls and watching great golf. And I can be the team mom. I will be the runner for anybody and everybody.” — Brenda Corrie Kuehn
Playing at the same time as Wake Forest men’s golf stars Billy Andrade and Jerry Haas, Kuehn decided, despite her father’s silent reservation, to pursue a professional career.
“We had a deal that if it didn’t work out that I would go back and get my MBA,” Kuehn said.
Despite an early professional win, she turned the page and earned her MBA at Babson College. While earning her advanced degree, she was reinstated as an amateur but with a desire to remain competitive on the course.
That spirit has shown through in a career in which Kuehn has played in nine U.S. Women’s Opens, 16 U.S. Women’s Amateurs and 17 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateurs (runner-up in 1995) and was also a two-time U.S. Curtis Cup team member and a four-time Women’s World Amateur Team participant.
“Obviously, the Curtis Cup, there is nothing like it,” said Kuehn, who watched Rachel win two Curtis Cups for the U.S., in 2021 and 2022. “You put that in a separate category. I have no words. It’s something special. I thank my dad, who said that I was a dual citizen and I have an opportunity. That, by far, is the most exhilarating event I played in.”
Mom and daughter share one more Curtis Cup honor as both secured the winning point for the U.S. team: Brenda in 1998 and Rachel in 2021 and 2022. Further, the daughter will play in her second Women’s World Amateur Team competition for the Americans this month in the United Arab Emirates. Rachel has played for the Dominican Republic in 2018 (with her mom) and in 2022 in France, for the U.S., giving the Kuehn and Corrie families enduring history in the world competition.
“The USGA is very open to the supporters that come,” Kuehn said. “They make you feel part of the team. I enjoy being around the girls, seeing the interaction between the girls and watching great golf. And I can be the team mom. I will be the runner for anybody and everybody.”
That international trip is after another spin at a USGA championship wheel at the Senior Women’s Am, where she made it to the round of 16 in 2022. At the most recent U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, she advanced to the round of 64. Kuehn calls that tournament her favorite individual USGA championship because, “You had a camaraderie, you had good, competitive golf and you had friends.”
This week, she brought a veteran’s mindset to the Senior Women’s Amateur where she reached match play once again.
“I’m trying to just enjoy it,” she said. “I’m trying to lower expectations, but that is a clashing thought to my normal thoughts. I am competing against myself and trying to put my best game forward. I am trying to swing relaxed and play relaxed and then let the chips fall.”
If the Corrie Kuehn legacy continues, the chips will fall nicely.