There is something special about champions that time can’t erase. The fire never fades; the passion never passes. And the 8th U.S. Senior Women’s Open is providing the perfect platform for two old foes to renew their rivalry as Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb try to chase down leader Michele Redman in the last threesome of Saturday’s third round at Barton Hills Country Club.

Webb and Sorenstam went out in the morning wave in Friday’s second round and ended at 4-under-par 140, which held up as the lead until late in the day when Redman eagled the 17th hole and birdied No. 18 for a sizzling 68 to move three strokes clear at 137.

Tied with Webb and Sorenstam at 140 is defending champion Becky Morgan. At 141 is Jackie Gallagher-Smith with Catriona Matthew at 142 and Cathy Johnston-Forbes, Catrin Nilsmark and Maria McBride at 143 with Juli Inkster and Christy Longfield at 145.

While Webb and Sorenstam have a combined 113 LPGA victories and 17 majors, including the U.S. Women’s Open five times, Redman, 61, has two LPGA victories and her best finish in the U.S. Women’s Open was T-5 in 2004.

But that is the magic of golf. The ball doesn’t know the resume of who’s hitting it. And championship golf is about who’s playing the best on this particular week. And so far, that’s been Redman.

“I played really good on the back nine,” said Redman in an understatement about her closing 31. “I had a few holes where I hit some shots I didn't like, but hit a lot of greens today and I putted well.”

She punctuated her great round with the eagle on No. 17 and then a kick-in birdie on No. 18.

“I hit a really good drive and I had 188 I think to the front and hit 5-wood up there about 12 feet, 13 feet, and made the putt, so that was kind of fun,” she said about the eagle.

Told she was going to play with Sorenstam and Webb on Saturday, she spoke with the calmness of someone whose been in this situation before in her nearly 20 years on the LPGA Tour.

“Yeah, perfect,” she said. “That will be fun. I don't know if I need any more motivation. I'm kind of old for that now. No, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, no pressure.”

Sorenstam took a one-stroke lead into the second round and appeared poised to create some separation going into the weekend, but a double bogey 7 on No. 17 – where she made an eagle on Thursday – and a 33 on her second nine by Webb erased the three-stroke lead the Swede had over the Aussie after the first round as Sorenstam shot even-par 72 and Webb posted a 69.

When Juli Inkster started her round on No. 10 in the afternoon wave birdie-birdie she was tied with Webb and Sorenstam at four under par. That evaporated when she made a double bogey on No. 13 and another double on No. 15, where she made a triple bogey on Thursday.

“That 15th hole just doesn’t like me,” Inkster said.

Sorenstam didn’t make her first bogey of the championship until the short par-3 fifth hole on Friday. Then she erupted for three birdies in a four-hole stretch beginning on No. 7.

That burst got Sorenstam to six-under par. She gave one back with a bogey on No. 11 then erased that mistake with a sensational birdie on No. 15 when, with a stout left-to-right wind blowing, she feathered a fade to 15 feet of the front right hole location atop a steep hill and made the birdie putt, punctuating it with a very un-Annika-like leg kick.

“Yeah, that was fun,” Sorenstam said as she walked to the next tee. “This is a crazy game.”

The game got crazier on No. 17 when she tried to go for the green in two, hit a cross bunker, then picked the ball a little too clean from 50 yards out and found the bunker over the green, ending in a crater, resulting in the double bogey 7.

Webb, who finished her opening round on Thursday bogey-bogey, treaded water on her first nine Friday, making two birdies and two bogeys on the backside. Then she started the front nine birdie-birdie and added another birdie on No. 7 for a 33.

“I think I very rarely have ever said this, but probably my patience because, you know, I probably felt like I played way better yesterday than I did today, to be honest,” Webb said when asked to identify the strength of her game on Friday.

“It's hard to have the same expectations I had when I was competing week in and week out and [know] that I am going to hit some terrible shots, and I just have to get on with it and not be too hard on myself,” Webb said about her competitive mindset.

“It feels good,” Webb said about being in contention going into the weekend. “You know, I'm proud of myself for not letting yesterday's finish affect how I started off today. But, yeah, I think I'm really excited that I have a chance over the weekend.”

The drama could not be more intense: Two legends trying to chase down Redman, who is clearly playing the best golf of anyone this week, being the only player to shoot both rounds in the 60s. It’s the weekend at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. Let the party begin.

NOTABLES

Michele Redman’s score of 137 is the third-lowest first 36-hole score in championship history.
Rachel Heatherington recorded an ace on the par 3 8th hole with an 8-iron playing 155 yards. It was Heatherington’s eighth competitive hole-in-one in her career and the eighth hole-in-one in championship history, first since 2024.
Barb Moxness broke her own record as the oldest player to make the cut at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at 73 years old. She shot her age in the first round, the third time in her last five rounds at the championship she shot her age or better.
Six-time USGA champion Hollis Stacy has made the cut in six of eight U.S. Senior Women’s Opens. At 72 years old, she is the second oldest in the field this week.
Two players who played in the 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Barton Hills made the cut in Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll and Kathy Hartwiger.
Cathy Johnston-Forbes, Christa Johnson and Michele Redman have made the cut in all eight U.S. Senior Women’s Opens.
Laura Diaz (28/28) is the only player in the field to hit 100% of fairways in regulation.

Sorenstam, Webb Chase Redman in U.S. Senior Women’s Open

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