Magical journey

It began with the simple desire once again to play in the R&A Women’s Senior Amateur Championship. Lara Tennant, a three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion from Portland, Oregon, played in the British version twice, winning it in 2019 and finishing runner-up in 2022. As she began to register to play in the event this year at Saunton Golf Club, some 200 miles west of London, she noticed that the Scottish and Irish senior women’s amateurs were to be played in consecutive weeks before the British. “Why not play them all?” she asked her husband and caddie, Bob. Thus began a most-rewarding three-week journey through the British Isles, along with her father and stepmother, during which Tennant won the Scottish and Irish titles in playoffs and posted a top-10 result at the British.

The journey began at the Scottish Senior at Old Course Ranfurly in Bridge of Weir, Scotland. Tennant survived a two-hole playoff against Scotland’s Valerie Thomas after they had tied at 10-over 226 through 54 holes. Both made par-3s on the first playof...