Spotleson Fires Even Par During Her Last Round To Secure The Wilma Trophy

Fort Worth, TX – Past LNGA Senior Amateur Champion Sarah Ingram likely expected her final round to be as uneventful as her last two days of play, but a surprising turn of events on the first hole opened up the door to other competitors.  Ingram carded a nine on the par four first hole and from that point on the tournament was wide open. Several different players were atop the leader board during Thursday’s final round and one player’s strong finish secured the title.  Suzi Spotleson, Canton, Ohio,  used an even par 72 (38-34) on the last day to win her first LNGA title.  Spotleson’s round included a double bogey, two bogeys, and four birdies, but the champion wasn’t aware of her leading position until putting out on hole 18.

“How did that happen? I think I’m still in shock,” Spotleson said. “I played well, shot even par, my thought all day was ‘let’s get to third place, let’s get to third place,’ so I was kind of grinding away for that.”

Spotleson started out Thursday’s match seven strokes behind the leader after posting a 78 on the first round and 73 in the second.

“What I didn’t expect to happen was that the leaders who were so far ahead of me I didn’t think they would come back to me but I heard they had some trouble,” Spotleson said. “When the leaders come back to you and you can kind of hang in there, good things happen, I guess. I had no idea until I putted out on 18.”

Judy Penman, Pinehurst, North Carolina, finished strong with a 73 on the final day which put her in a tie for second place. Sarah Ingram, Nashville, Tennessee, struggled to an 81 in her final round and ended tied for second place.  The full field results for the 2023 LNGA Senior Amateur Championship are available for review on the LNGA webpage at https://ladiesnationalgolf.org . 

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