Canada's Marlene Stewart Streit plays her third shot from a greenside bunker at the 11th hole during the first round of the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur Championship
There was more than one impressive performance over the weekend in the world of golf. Henrik Stenson's play in winning the Tour Championship in Atlanta and taking the FedEx Cup and the $10-million (USD) bonus of course grabbed the most attention. PGA Tour rookie Jordan Spieth's closing 64 to tie for second with Steve Stricker in the season-ending tournament was also something to see; Spieth, after all, just turned 20 and didn't have any PGA Tour status at the beginning of the year. He'll play for the U.S. in next week's Presidents Cup at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
Meanwhile, Marlene Streit – how many times can one write "the amazing Marlene Streit without going overboard? Let's just say it's impossible – shot 83-83 in the U.S Senior Women's Amateur at CordeValle, a resort in San Martin, Calif. Marlene, at 79 the oldest player in the field, finished only two shots out of the top 64 golfers who qualified for the match-play portion of the championship. She was playing her last Senior Women's Amateur. She'd gotten into the championship off a 10-year exemption that she received for winning the title 10 years ago. Marlene remains the oldest player to win the national championship.
I can't imagine that anybody in women's amateur golf is more respected and admired than Marlene. I'm fortunate to count her as a close friend and have been amazed – there's that word again – by how steady a player she's been for, oh, 60 years. That many years have passed since 1953, when Marlene won the British Ladies Amateur at Royal Porthcawl, a sprawling, heaving links in Wales. She was only 19 when she came to the attention of the golf world at large. Marlene had already won the 1951 Canadian Ladies Amateur.
It's been nothing but great stuff since for Marlene. What hasn't she won in women's amateur golf? I can't think of anything she's not won. Here's a partial list of her accomplishments:
- 1953 British Ladies Amateur
- 1956 U.S. Women's Amateur
- 1963 Australian Women's Amateur
- 11 Canadian Women's Amateurs
- Four Canadian Ladies Senior Women's Amateurs
- 1985, 1994 and 2003 U.S. Senior Women's Amateurs
- 11 Ontario Ladies Amateurs
- multiple – and I mean multiple – appearances for Canada on international teams.
She's still passionate about Canadian women's amateur golf. If you see Marlene on a course, she'll be wearing a visor that identifies her as a Canadian. She helps young golfers and also older golfers. She preaches "SRB," smoothness, rhythm, and balance, and she exemplifies that winning triumvirate. I can't remember the last time she missed a fairway. Every swing is the same. Every grimace is the same when she misses a par putt. She hates to make a bogey.
Unfortunately, Marlene finished her second round at CordeValle with two bogeys. She'd have loved to have made the top 64 golfers and get into match play. But she was playing a course that the USGA set up for the senior women from 5,894 to 5,968 yards. That's longer than she normally plays. I've been to CordeValle, and it's no pushover.
As it happens, I awoke this morning to an e-mail from Marlene. She sent it at 1:44 AM Pacific time. Here's what she wrote.
"I shot two 83's which was pretty good. Course was too long for me so I had to chip and putt a lot. Having a great time but missed qualifying by two shots. Bogied the last two holes that I played! Ugh!! Staying until Thursday. Daughter Darlene is here from Santa Fe, so we will have fun!! I am pretty proud that I could shoot the two 83's. Could have been a lot worse!!! Big wind today!! Hit some great shots to par 4's and par 5's to one putt for par!!"
My wife just asked me what I was writing about this morning. I said I was writing about Marlene, and described what she'd done at CordeValle.
"What a competitor she is," Nell said.
And here's what Marlene said when she concluded her e-mail. She was disappointed that she'd bogied those last two holes and missed qualifying by the two shots. That's golf. She put it in perspective.
"Still had fun!! I love golf!!!"
Triple exclamation marks. Canada's only member of the World Golf Hall of Fame is a walking triple exclamation mark. I'll say it again. She's amazing. She's amazing. She's amazing.
RELATED LINK: More blogs from Lorne Rubenstein
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Lorne Rubenstein has written a golf column for The Globe and Mail since 1980. He has played golf since the early 1960s and was the Royal Canadian Golf Association's first curator of its museum and library at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario and the first editor of Score, Canada's Golf Magazine, where he continues to write a column and features. He has won four first-place awards from the Golf Writers Association of America, one National Magazine Award in Canada, and he won the award for the best feature in 2009 from the Golf Journalists Association of Canada. Lorne has written 12 books, including Mike Weir: The Road to the Masters (2003); A Disorderly Compendium of Golf, with Jeff Neuman (2006); This Round's on Me (2009); and the latest Moe & Me: Encounters with Moe Norman, Golf's Mysterious Genius (2012). He is a member of the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Lorne can be reached at lornerubenstein@me.com. You can now follow him on Twitter @lornerubenstein