ANN ARBOR, MI — Shaking off some early nerves — and some of the legends of the game — Maria McBride won the U.S. Senior Women's Open on Sunday, Aug. 23, at Barton Hills Country Club.
McBride turned around her round with a chip-in from behind the green at the par-5 ninth hole, regaining the lead that she had lost a hole earlier after starting the final round with a four-shot cushion.
McBride, 52, rallied to shoot a 1-over 73 to finish the United States Golf Association championship 6 under, two strokes clear of World Golf Hall-of-Famer Annika Sorenstam, 55, who briefly moved to the top of the leaderboard as she made the turn Sunday. Sorenstam shot a final-round 1-under 71.
World Golf Hall-of-Famer Karrie Webb, Sorenstam's rival from their heydays,
surged Sunday to a 2-under 70 — just one of just four sub-par rounds Sunday — and finished in solo third place, five shots back. Catriona Matthew, the 2021 Solheim Cup captain for Team Europe's victory at Inverness Club in nearby Toledo, shot 3-over 75 and finished 1 over, tied for fourth with Patricia Meunier-Lebouc.
McBride, playing in the final group on Sunday in the championship for a second straight year, had an early hiccup on a breezy Sunday, making double-bogey at the par-4 third hole. He made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8 to briefly fall out of the lead, behind Sorenstam, who shot a bogey-free, 1-under 35 on the front nine.
Then McBride righted the ship at the 517-yard, par-5 ninth hole, where McBride, the longest hitter in the 50-and-older field (by far), hit her second shot just over the green. She then chipped in for eagle, and let out a fist pump.
That moved her to 5 under for the tournament, a shot clear of her fellow Swede, Sorenstam, the 10-time major winner who won this championship in 2021 and has finished in the top five of the U.S. Senior Open every year she's played.
Sorenstam, playing in front of a moving gallery of at least a few hundred for most of the day, tied for the lead again with a birdie at the par-4 13th, set up by a nifty approach to 6 feet. Sorenstam then three-putted on the next hole, missing a short putt for par, to fall one back. It was her first bogey of the day.
McBride then made birdie at the 14th and again at the difficult par-3 16th, where she hit her approach to 8 feet and made the putt to push the lead back to where it started the day, four strokes. Sorenstam birdied the par-5 17th while McBride bogeyed, but she still had a two-stroke cushion heading to 18th, and she sealed the title with a closing par.
The win was the second in as many weeks for McBride, who won the LPGA Legends Championship last week in Indiana.
Defending champion Becky Morgan finished tied for seventh at 4 over, after a closing 79, with Charlotta Sorenstam, Annika's younger sister, who shot 75. World Golf Hall-of-Famer Juli Inkster, 66, tied for 11th at 6 over.
Among the local players in the field, Holland's Tracy Hanson tied for 30th at 20 over after a Sunday 80, Jackson's Elaine Crosby, a Michigan Golf Hall-of-Famer, tied for 47th at 26 over after a finishing 81; and Michigan State head women's golf coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, another Michigan Golf Hall-of-Famer, finishing 51st after a closing 81.
The U.S. Senior Women's Open was the third USGA championship contested at Barton Hills, where member and NBC broadcaster Mike Tirico did the first-tee introductions Saturday and Sunday. Barton Hills also hosted the 1998 U.S. Women's Amateur and the 2008 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur.
USGA championships in Michigan
U.S. OPEN
- 1924: Cyril Walker (Oakland Hills)
- 1937: Ralph Guldahl (Oakland Hills)
- 1951: Ben Hogan (Oakland Hills)
- 1961: Gene Littler (Oakland Hills)
- 1985: Andy North (Oakland Hills)
- 1996: Steve Jones (Oakland Hills)
U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN
- 1958: Mickey Wright (Forest Lake)
- 1989: Betsy King (Indianwood)
- 1994: Patty Sheehan (Indianwood)
U.S. SENIOR OPEN
- 1981: Arnold Palmer (Oakland Hills)
- 1991: Jack Nicklaus (Oakland Hills)
- 2012: Roger Chapman (Indianwood)
U.S. SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN
- 2026: Maria McBride (Barton Hills)
U.S. AMATEUR
- 1915: Robert Gardner (Country Club of Detroit)
- 1954: Arnold Palmer (Country Club of Detroit)
- 2002: Ricky Barnes (Oakland Hills)
- 2016: Curtis Luck (Oakland Hills)
U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR
- 1929: Glenna Collett (Oakland Hills)
- 1947: Louise Suggs (Franklin Hills)
- 1966: JoAnne Gunderson (Birmingham)
- 1998: Grace Park (Barton Hills)
U.S. JUNIOR AMATEUR
- 1948: Dean Lind (University of Michigan)
- 1962: Jim Wiechers (Lochmoor Club)
- 1980: Eric Johnson (Pine Lake)
- 2010: Jim Liu (Egypt Valley)
- 2024: Trevor Gutschewski (Oakland Hills)
U.S. GIRLS' JUNIOR AMATEUR
- 1968: Margaret Harmon (Flint)
U.S. SENIOR AMATEUR
- 1984: Robert Rawlins (Birmingham)
- 1991: Bill Bosshard (Crystal Downs)
- 2021: Gene Elliott (Country Club of Detroit)
U.S. MID-AMATEUR
- 1992: Danny Yates (Detroit)
U.S. WOMEN'S MID-AMATEUR
- 2008: Joan Higgins (Barton Hills)
Future USGA championships in Michigan
- 2029: U.S. Women's Amateur (Oakland Hills)
- 2031: U.S. Women's Open (Oakland Hills)
- 2034: U.S. Open (Oakland Hills)
- 2038: U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur (Oakland Hills)
- 2042: U.S. Women's Open (Oakland Hills)
- 2047: U.S. Amateur (Oakland Hills)
- 2051: U.S. Open (Oakland Hills)
tpaul@detroitnews.com. @tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Maria McBride holds off Annika Sorenstam to win 2026 U.S. Senior Women's Open
