Lara Tennant wasn’t about to let her homecoming be cut short. The 59-year-old Portland native, who has won three previous editions of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, survived a 23-hole thriller against USGA Executive Committee member Brenda Kuehn on Monday to keep her hopes of winning a USGA championship at Portland Golf Club alive.

Tennant, a Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Famer and five-time PNGA Player of the Year, had her work cut out for her in the Round of 64, facing another battle-tested USGA veteran in Brenda Kuehn, who was the 2023 runner-up at Troon Country Club (Ariz.).

The match between the two veterans lived up to its billing, as the three-time champion overcame an early 2-down deficit with three consecutive wins on Nos. 8-10.  

With momentum shifting in her opponent’s favor, Kuehn maintained her poise with key victories on Nos. 14 and 16 to square the match. It would remain tied through the end of regulation, as Tennant pulled off an unlikely up-and-down on the 18th hole to force a playoff. On the fifth extra hole of the match, Tennant sealed the victory, carding a birdie to beat her opponent on the 439-yard par-5 (Portland G.C.’s No. 5).

“Well, I think we both had some good stretches of golf. And it just came down to the last hole,” said Tennant. “I had to make a birdie on the fifth extra hole, and, you know, luckily, the putt went in. But Brenda is a tremendous competitor. She is a grinder, so I knew it would be a very good match today.”

While Tennant took 23 holes to advance, Tara Joy-Connelly, of Tuftonboro, N.H., needed just 13 to secure herself a win over Sarah Ingram, of Nashville, Tenn.

Tied through the first three holes, Joy-Connelly gained the first edge of the match on the fourth with a shot for the ages. The longtime USGA competitor, playing in her 44th USGA championship, took out a wedge on the 108-yard par-3 and hit her shot directly at the pin, carrying the bunker and recording a hole-in-one, the second of this week’s championship.  

The ace, Joy-Connelly’s second in USGA competition after recording one at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, sparked a streak of six consecutive winning holes, earning her a 6-up advantage over Ingram through the first nine. 

Ingram notched wins on Nos. 10 and 12, but Joy-Connelly’s lead proved too much to overcome as she closed out the match with a par on the 13th hole, advancing to the Round of 32 with a decisive 6-and-5 victory.

“You know, going in, I knew it was going to be a tough match. Sarah [Ingram] and I have had tough matches before,” said Joy-Connelly. “When we finished, she told me, ‘Ooh, karma.’ Sarah lit me up in Scottsdale a few years ago. She’s such a good player, so it was just one of those matches you knew would be tough, and you just had to grind.”

Another marquee matchup from the first round of match play was the 19-hole contest between three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Ellen Port and Michigan State women’s golf head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll. 

The back-and-forth battle saw neither player take a lead greater than 1 up, with the match ultimately extending to a playoff.

Playing in her 14th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, Port struck first by winning Portland Golf Club’s par-4 first hole with a par. A few holes latter, Slobodnik-Stoll responded with a par of her own on No. 5 to square the match, but Port regained her advantage immediately on the sixth. As the match progressed, the pair continued to trade holes, with Port eventually taking a 1-up lead into the 17th.

Facing elimination, Slobodnik-Stoll, the Spartans’ head coach in her 30th year, won the 121-yard 17th with a par and tied the 18th to send the match to a playoff. Despite Slobodnik-Stoll’s late rally, Port’s experience in more than 80 USGA championships showed on the first extra hole, where she made a routine par to secure the victory.

Port and Tennant are two of seven former champions to advance to the Round of 32. They are joined by Sarah Gallagher, Nadene Gole, Judith Kyrinis, Shelly Stouffer and Dawn Woodard. Karen Garcia was the only former champion not to advance, falling to Kim Keyer-Scott, 2 and 1.  

Port and Tennant, who have combined for six U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur titles, will face off Tuesday in the Round of 32.

“We know each other very, very well, and both of us are going to try our best to win,” said Port about facing Tennant. “We’ll be happy no matter who wins … I want us both to play well, and for someone to just play a little better, hit one better shot or make one better putt. It’s going to be great.”