Lara Tennant Wins 9th Straight Oregon Senior Women's Amateur Championship

TUALATIN, Oregon - Lara Tennant continued to add to her great golf legacy, winning her 9th straight Oregon Senior Women’s Amateur Championship on Saturday at Tualatin Country Club.

Tennant, a member at Waverley Country Club, beat Loree McKay in the Final. She was six up through nine holes, and McKay conceded the match.

“It’s always hard to win a golf tournament, I’ve never really thought about the total number of senior ams I’ve won,” Tennant said. “I take it a single match at a time and year at a time, we have a lot of really great players here. I never take it for granted. I try to play my very best and it’s worked out to win these past years, but I never really think about the number of wins I’ve had.”

Over the nine years that Tennant has won, she has won 36 consecutive match-play matches over that stretch.

“Lara Tennant extending her unbeaten streak to 36 straight matches while on her way to nine straight Senior Women’s titles is legendary.” OGA CEO, Rick Rangel, said.

McKay is a three-time Oregon Senior Women’s Amateur Champion, winning in 2007, 2011, and 2012.

Tennant defeated Sandy Little 3 & 2 in the round of 16 on Thursday, Lisa Poritz 9 & 8 in the quarterfinals before being taken to the brink of elimination in the Friday afternoon semifinals against Rosie Cook after several stoppages due to lightning and thunder.

Cook led the match after the opening hole and would hold a two-up lead through 16 holes. Tennant won 17 and 18, to force a tie and playoff, where she would go on to win on the 20th hole.

“That was a really tight match, having a six-hour break between the morning and afternoon, it was difficult to go into the second match and play as well as I want to play,” Tennant said “I was pretty calm, even though i was down the whole match, being patient, applying pressure and see what happens. I got fortunate, in match play a lot of strange things can happen, I was pretty lucky to win 17 and 18 and come back and win in sudden death.”

Tennant will play in her seventh US Senior Women’s Amateur at the Omni Homestead Resort (Cascades Course) in Hot Springs, Virginia September 13-18, 2025.

“I’m still exempt, so I don’t have to qualify, which is always nice,” Tennant said.

Tennant won three straight U.S. Senior Women’s Amateurs in 2018, 2019, and 2021.

Tennant became the first player since Carol Semple Thompson (four from 1999-2002) to win three consecutive U.S. Senior Women's Amateur titles when she defeated seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port, 2 and 1, in the 2021 championship match at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Alabama.

The Portland Golf Club will host the 2026 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur.

“What’s exciting is Portland Golf Club is hosting the U.S. Senior Women's Am in Portland in 2026,” Tennant said. “I love that golf course, and I know pretty well, so I look forward to that, it’s a wonderful venue for the tournament.”

Tenant is on the OGA Executive Committee and the Oregon Junior Golf Chair.

“We are very supportive of golf in general here in Oregon. I’m on the Executive committee, the Chair of junior golf, I’ve been doing that for over 20 years in the state,” Tennant said. “Really watched it grow, it’s been exciting to see the program develop so much.

“We have the Earling Jacobsen Tour, in a non-competitive environment, learning the skills to play the game, and the summer series, and then playing in the majors, to help kids incrementally play the game to whatever level they choose to play. We want the kids to enjoy it, not every golfer has to be a competitive golfer, and how golf teaches them beyond the game, like etiquette and how to be a good sport.”