September 8-9, 2020 Wyoming CC
Lynn Thompson isn’t yet at the top, but she’s rapidly closing in on it.
Lynn Thompson
Playing out of O’Bannon Creek Golf Club, Thompson shot an 81-83 – 164 to get past club mate Janie Klare and win the 49th Metropolitan Senior Women’s Gross Championship September 8-9 at Wyoming Golf Club.
Dolores Crowley, who plays out of Avon Fields Golf Course, survived a tough four-way battle to edge Rainey Rohrmeier by one stroke and win the Overall Net championship. Crowley finished with a 79-79 – 158, while Miami Whitewater Forest’s Rohrmeier came in at 79-80 – 159. Thompson was third in the Net run at 79-80 – 160, while Kenwood Country Club’s Karen Hjelm was fourth at 82-79 – 161.
“She was so much fun,” Thompson said of Crowley. “She was so excited.” Crowley, playing her fourth Senior Met, was surprised to find herself tied with Rohrmeier and Thompson – all at 79 – after the first day, especially since she had carded an 11 on the par-5 11th hole. “I never had an 11 on a hole,” she said. “This was my first time playing that course. It was very challenging – very hilly. That was a challenge. I usually tell myself, “If you mess up really big, you have other holes to make that up,’ but it shook me up a little bit. I’d never had more than a 9 or a 10 on a hole. I thought I was out of it, but when I saw the other scores, I figured the other golfers had problems, too.”
Dolores Crowley
Crowley was told after she finished her second round to hang around because she was tied for the Net lead. She clinched 10 or 15 minutes later. “They told me it looked like I pulled it off,” recalled Crowley, an accomplished member of the Cincinnati Recreation Women’s Golf Association. “They determined that she couldn’t catch me. It was a good feeling. I just did a silent cheer. I was happy that I had pulled it off.”
Thompson and Klare were tied after the first 18-hole round, but Klare slipped to a 90 on the second day, opening the door for Thompson to capture her third championship in four years and seventh in the last 13. Thompson overcame greens she described as “very difficult” to win. “I would almost say brutal,” she said. “They are so challenging at Wyoming. When you’re not familiar or you don’t have the local knowledge or you haven’t played there a lot, it’s almost impossible to read a putt or gauge the speed. It was so challenging on the greens that I was very fortunate to make of par saves from the 5-6-7-foot range. That was different. I don’t know how the ball found the hole. It was one of those days I putted well.”
Crowley had similar difficulties. “My drive was working pretty good,” she said. “My putting was off because of the fast greens. I play a lot of local courses, and when I play country clubs, I find that the greens are usually faster. I really had to focus on my game, but my drives were on.” Besides the tricky greens, the field had to deal with high-80 temperatures and incessant sunshine. “It was very hot, not like the beautiful weather we’re having today,” Thompson said a few days later. “The first day, I think I was a little dehydrated, even I was drinking water and Gatorade. I was going through bottles of it. I remember thinking, ‘I need to hydrate tonight.’ The next day, I made sure I had extra bottles. It was hot, and I was in a cart.
“We kind of chuckled at the turn on the second day,” she added. “We said, ‘We better heat it up for the last nine holes.’ I think we were tied after the front nine. Janie’s such a fine player. I just had my putts going.” Thompson’s seven Senior Met championships rank third all-time behind Joan Comisar’s 10 and Marg F. Lillard’s nine. “Isn’t that something?” Thompson said. “That is rarefied air. Both of those women were such fine players. They were such great golfers and great ambassadors of golf. If I can do a little bit of what they did, that would be something. It’s just an honor to be able to call them friends and have a chance to play with them back in the day.”
By Mark Schmetzer