TSAWWASSEN — After extending her record streak of B.C. Senior Women’s championships to seven, Shelly Stouffer served notice that she isn’t done. Not even close. “I’d like to get to 10,” she said with a smile. “I’m just going to try and keep the streak going.”
Don’t bet against her reaching double-digits. The 56-year-old Nanoose Bay resident once again blew away the competition at the B.C. Senior Women’s, beating the field at Beach Grove Golf Club in Tsawwassen by 12 shots. Stouffer finished her final round in style with a tap-in birdie on the 18th hole. Her one-under 72 was the lone sub-par round of the week.
“I wanted to go under-par for at least one round,” said Stouffer, who finished the 54-hole competition for players aged 50 and older at three-over par. “It was a nice way to finish.”
Stouffer is playing as well, maybe even better, than she was when this streak started back at Campbell River Golf Club in 2020. She is confident she has lots of good golf left in her. “I am hitting the ball well and it’s still going out there,” Stouffer said. “So I can still compete with the younger people. I feel good about my game.”
Stouffer began the final round with only a four-shot lead. That’s a comfortable cushion, but Stouffer has been around the game long enough to know that a lead like that can disappear in a hurry. On the putting green before beginning her final round, Stouffer joked about having a word of the day. She confided that the word she was focussed on for her final round was commitment.
“You know, just don’t be willy-nilly,” she said. “Commit to every shot, be positive and know where the ball is going to go.” That mindset worked well. Stouffer hit 15 greens in regulation and just didn’t make any major mistakes that would have given her closest pursuers some hope of catching her.
When she birdied the par 5 ninth hole, she had extended that four-shot lead to 10. She pretty much had it on cruise control for the remainder of her round. “I drove the ball pretty well all three days and I putted pretty well,” Stouffer said. “My only three-putt today was on No. 12.”
In addition to her string of B.C. Championships, Stouffer won the Canadian Senior Women’s Championship as well as the Canadian Mid-Amateur title in 2021 and 2022. She won her third Canadian Senior Women’s title last summer at Nanaimo Golf Club. Her biggest win came at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship when she became the first British Columbian to win a United States Golf Association event.
Stouffer has collected more than just titles during her senior golf journey. “I’ve made some new friends,” she said. “You meet so many interesting people and it’s awesome because you now have all these connections. So if you want to travel to all these different places you always have someone to have a game of golf with or stay with. It’s been great.”
This season could not have started any better for Stouffer. She helped lead Team B.C. to a win last month at the annual Lamey Cup competition at Victoria Golf Club and followed that up with her impressive performance at Beach Grove. She now heads into the meat of what will be a busy summer schedule.
“I’d love to win the U.S. Senior Am again,” said Stouffer, who was runner-up at the event in 2024. “And I’m heading back to defend my Irish (Senior Women’s) title I won last summer.” Stouffer will also play in the British Senior Women’s Amateur, where she placed inside the top 10 last year.
Gretchen Klein of Hoquiam, Wash., finished second at Beach Grove after closing with her best round of the week, a two-over 75. “I am happy with the way I played,” Klein said. “I struggled a bit the first day. I had a triple on the second hole and two doubles after that. The last two days were good.” Tina Papatolis of Issaquah, Wash., finished third, two shots behind Klein. June Zhang of Coquitlam was fourth and Sandra Turbide of Maple Ridge was fifth.
Stouffer, Zhang and Turbide will represent B.C. in the inter-provincial team competition at the Canadian Senior Women’s Championship, which goes Sept. 16-18 at Pine Hills Golf Club in Rocky Mountain House, Alta. Klein won the Super Senior Championship for players aged 60 and older. “I felt like I played smart the last two days,” Klein said. “Rather than always hitting the longest club on my second shot into par 5s I hit my hybrid to just get into position.”
The Super Super Senior Championship for players aged 70 and older was won by Vancouver’s Holly Horwood. Elaine Blatchford of Surrey was second and Phyllis Laschuk of Vancouver was third. Horwood and Laschuk are both former B.C. Senior Women’s champions.
A net best-ball competition was won by the team of Kyoka Takahashi and Xuanli Li, both of Vancouver, with a score of 20-under par. That was two shots better than the North Vancouver duo of Edna Dechant and Jennifer Donnelly. The team of Cynthia Bolton of Delta and Diane Chace of Windermere were third at 17-under.
Click HERE to see final scoring.
Click HERE to see the sharepoint folder for the event