U.S. SENIOR WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 26, 2024

Nadene Gole

Broadmoor Golf Club

Quick Quotes

NADENE GOLE: Third time lucky.

Q. Exactly. Third time's the charm.

NADENE GOLE: 100th year.

Q. 100th year. Congratulations, second USGA championship, and you are officially now a USGA champion. How does that sound?

NADENE GOLE: It's amazing. It really is. It probably will not sink in for a while. I think also a compatriot of mine, Sue Wooster, has had three runner-ups, and she's been such a great ambassador for our sport, senior women's golf.

So I think, to have taken it before her, it's a bit sad for her, but I'm happy to be taking it back to Australia, I really am. I've just taken an R&A trophy back there, so hopefully it grows the sport and people are inspired it and have a bit more fun with the game.

Q. You won the R&A, Senior Amateur, and now this, the two biggest championships on the senior circuit in nine weeks. Obviously you're probably the woman to beat right now. How do you feel about that? Is that something that you've worked towards?

NADENE GOLE: For me, I just go and play golf. I knew I was playing a really tough competitor yesterday and today, and every match, I always have respect for who I play, but I just go and try to play golf the best I can. That's all I can do, and that's all I have control over most of the time anyway.

Q. How about the match out there today? It was pretty tight around the turn. Shelly was making some awesome par saves. I feel like momentum might have shifted on 13 when you walked in that putt with a little fist pump.

NADENE GOLE: The thing is she made a great birdie on 9 and a massive putt on 10. She peached it to a foot, and it spun back about 25 feet. I was about 20 feet, and she holed it. I then had to go for it.

Then she nailed another one on 11, great up-and-down. 12, I luckily hit a good shot there. And 13, I just sort of -- I decelerated through the chip, and I knew she was going to make 4, and I was trying to make the 3.

I think the momentum did change there, and I had a good up-and-down on the next one. I don't know, you just keep doing what you do and try to forget about the golf score really.

Q. At some point in your life, did you play professionally?

NADENE GOLE: I did, I went from '90 to '97, and then in '98 I had children. That's where the hiatus of 20 or so years was.

Q. And they're in their 20s now?

NADENE GOLE: 26 and 23.

Q. And that's why you're starting to pick the game back up again?

NADENE GOLE: Yeah, I have a bit more time. I have -- a couple of businesses that we have, and I manage those. So I'm able to get away every now and then. I'm not doing it full-time, so on and off, which is a good thing.

Q. Forgive me for rehashing this, but I overheard you guys had some issues eight weeks ago with your husband. What happened there, if you don't mind?

NADENE GOLE: We just got back from having a massive time at the R&A winning. He started feeling unwell. I thought he had the flu, and he had blood poisoning. He had sepsis and septicemia, and he had about 12 to 18 hours to live. They luckily got the right antibiotic.

I just didn't think I'd be here. I honestly wasn't even thinking about playing golf. This morning when I woke up and I was putting this on, I was really emotional. I said to him this morning, you know, it's eight weeks ago that I took you to emergency.

So life's very fragile, and I went through a month where I didn't know what I was doing. I was just driving to hospital and doctors and doing life, whatever it was meant to throw at us.

Q. How does that even happen?

NADENE GOLE: We don't know. There wasn't an open cut. There wasn't a sore throat. It's either a cough or a sneeze, whether someone in an airport or the plane, but it's a very, very serious thing.

I had known of someone else who had it, and it normally takes 50 percent of the people that get it.

Q. Wow, that's incredible.

NADENE GOLE: And it's usually a three to six-month recovery, and he's already out of hospital.

Q. Eight weeks?

NADENE GOLE: Eight weeks ago.

Q. Incredible. Well, you told me you've only come to -- you don't come to the United States often, but you've come the last two years. Will we plan to see your face for years to come?

NADENE GOLE: I think there's a lot of times I'm going to be here. I thought maybe this year I won't go back. It's too far to travel, and my back was like a cactus.

Then I said that at the R&A, I was like I've got to go back now. I've got to go and defend. I've met some fabulous people. The girls have been great. USGA just --

Q. Outside of winning, what will you look back on this week and think? Whether it's been friendships or what you and your husband went through.

NADENE GOLE: I think definitely friendships here at the club. Just really living in the moment, enjoying everything that I do. I can say appreciating family and friends and being able to do what I do.