U.S. SENIOR WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

October 4, 2023

Linda Jeffery

Troon Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. First Senior Women's Amateur.

LINDA JEFFERY: Yeah.

Q. How did it go for you. Semifinals it pretty good?

LINDA JEFFERY: You think? Yeah. It was amazing. But I actually -- Arizona is good to me. I played the Mid Am up in Flagstaff. I felt very confident and I played really well there. Unfortunately didn't play great in match play. Came here Wednesday, hit a few balls and felt really confident paragraph I love the golf course.

Even though I got the short end of the draw on the 30-mile-an-hour gusting in the afternoon, I shot a great 78. It was probably the best 78 I've ever done in my life. That taught me a lot. Feel like this was a great golf course setup for me because I hit a low ball; from west Texas originally.

A friend of mine saw me playing by myself on Saturday. She lives in Tucson. She was like, do you want me to caddie? Yeah, that would be great. And from that moment on, all of a sudden putts were dropping.

So I had a good run.

Q. What was her name?

LINDA JEFFERY: Colleen.

Q. Yeah.

LINDA JEFFERY: So she's -- we served in the Air Force together. Met doing that. She is a retired colonel and I'm just lucky enough that I've -- I've had three colonels on my bag, including my husband and another good friend. I do really well with them. They just tell me what to do and I follow orders.

Q. You had a great win this morning over Sarah, coming in extremely hot from yesterday, her huge wins.

LINDA JEFFERY: Yes.

Q. How did you win that match?

LINDA JEFFERY: Honestly, I turned it around by hitting one of the worst shots you could hit on 12. But I finally hit the green. Of course the pin was on the right and I was on the left because I had just not played that hole worth a darn.

I had probably a 50-footer; miraculously made it. That was the turning point. It really gave me momentum. The next hole, we go to 13, she hits a fantastic bunkers shot out. Makes her par putt, and I make a birdie on top of that.

That just gave me the momentum. She is so steady, so classy, just calm as can be. I am not classy or calm. I'm a roller coaster, very emotional. I would love not to be. Unfortunately I can't play that way. I have learned that I just have to be me and celebrate the good, get over the bad, and I had such a great time losing to Brenda.

It feels terrible but she is -- I mean, she played steady. She was fantastic to play with. I so enjoyed getting my butt kicked by her.

Q. You had an early lead. Your butt wasn't getting kicked the whole match. Through 4 you were 1-up.

LINDA JEFFERY: Okay.

Q. Then she got a bit hot.

LINDA JEFFERY: Yeah, yeah.

Q. In the end it just was too much.

LINDA JEFFERY: It was too much. I just didn't make anything. You know, she gave me couple door openings and I stubbed my toe going through the door.

That happens in golf. I mean, she won it. I helped along, but she won that match. Fantastic player.

Q. Tell me what happened on 7, please. I heard stories about it, but rather get your perspective on that.

LINDA JEFFERY: So 7 they changed the pin spot. I think we had 151 instead of a beautiful like 122 this morning.

I hit directly towards the blue stake on 2 because I tend to pull the ball, not necessarily draw it, but pull it. It went dead straight. Went over the mound and into the hole on 2. For a hole in one on 2, and unfortunately a bogey from me when I was done.

Q. You got a free drop.

LINDA JEFFERY: I got a free drop. I got relief. You can't drop on the green. I had to drop over. Made a great chip. Unfortunately I burned so many edges today in the afternoon. My feel was not very good, and the more I tried the worse it got, so...

Q. Have you ever seen it happen before in your golf career?

LINDA JEFFERY: I have never seen that happen before, no.

Q. Have you had any hole in ones?

LINDA JEFFERY: Yeah. I've had plenty of hole in ones.

Q. The you didn't want today though.

LINDA JEFFERY: Obviously not the right club for the pin on No. 7, but, yeah.

Q. What's next?

LINDA JEFFERY: Actually playing the LNGA in Fort Worth and then I'm shut ting it down. Time is up.

Q. So you're leaving here, what's your favorite memory of the whole experience?

LINDA JEFFERY: Honestly, that putt on 12 this morning. It turned my whole round around. You make a 50-footer from so far away, it was good the entire way, yeah. And you know what? I got to be honest with you, I felt really good on Wednesday when I was hitting balls, but I was the underdog. People don't know me.

I mean, you know, I know these other people -- I took down two really big names. Kathy Hartwiger is a friend of mine and she told me this summer, she's like, you need to stop being so hard on yourself and just play golf.

I took that to heart a little bit, and playing her in 13 years I've never beat her. I just -- she was beatable because I believed in myself, and so thanks to her, I was able to beat her.

Then obviously I just got gifted on a couple shots with Sarah. God, what a classy lady.

Q. So overall good experience?

LINDA JEFFERY: Oh, God, are you kidding me? They just told me I have a two-year exemption. Please. I mean, that's -- that's music to my ears.

Q. Did I hear you on the final green say you have no plane ride home, no hotel room?

LINDA JEFFERY: Correct, yeah. So because -- okay, I have canceled three flights. I was supposed to be in San Diego this week. There is an international military tournament that I'm on the board for that's going on.

I'm supposed to be there. The head of our U.S. Armed Forces Sports asked me specifically, hey, best case, worst case scenario. This was on Monday. I said, well there is two rounds on Tuesday, two rounds on Wednesday and one round on Thursday, so I don't know.

And then I kept winning, you know, and my last flight was this afternoon that I canceled. Had to move out of the airbnb, so I'll figure it out. I don't know if I'll go to San Diego or if I'm going home.

Yeah, so still waiting for them to answer my text to tell me if I'm -- if they still are allowing me to go to San Diego.

Q. Well, quick flight from here.

LINDA JEFFERY: It is. I really don't want to go tonight though. 9:45 takeoff on Southwest, I'm like, I'm exhausted. I really am.

Q. How could you not be? That's a lot of golf and lots of stress.

LINDA JEFFERY: Yeah, yeah, I wasn't stressed this afternoon. Maybe that's why I didn't do so well. I wasn't stressed. I was nervous and stressed during every other round just fighting myself.

I didn't fight myself this afternoon. I just was just trying to enjoy myself. Maybe I needed to fight myself more. I don't know. Sometimes you just get beat and that's okay.

Q. That's golf.

LINDA JEFFERY: That's golf. What a fantastic -- you know, the people who have run this and put this together, it's been incredible. Being my first Senior, I finally graduated to my age group. Yeah, I've been missing that. I've been an old Mid-Am and you can only go so long with that.

Q. And last question: Thank you for your time. Your current role with the military, I know somebody asked about your title. I don't care about that. What do you do? What's your current role?

LINDA JEFFERY: Currently I'm an Individual Mobilized Augmentee at Squadron Officer's School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

I instruct. I help make curriculum. It's for our mid-level professional military education. So we bridge the tactical operational bridge.

Q. How many years total in the military now?

LINDA JEFFERY: 23.