Trish Johnson achieves career goal with $180,000 victory at US Senior Women's Open

English player Trish Johnson was never able to win a United States Golf Association (USGA) tournament when she played in the open category. However, she had never given up on that goal and this Sunday (August 27), she finally achieved it, with a $180,000 prize money included.

Trish Johnson won the U.S. Women's Senior Open with an outstanding performance. She rebounded from an uncertain first round of 73 and improved on the second day with a 72, which moved her into the top 5.

By the end of the third round, Trish Johnson was already in the lead. That day she shot a score of 67, very relevant for the senior category.

On the last day, she repeated her 72 to close with an overall score of 4-under 284. It was a round in which she had to recover from a complicated front nine; she had three bogeys and two birdies there.

But on the back nine, she found her stride and made five consecutive pars, followed by two birdies. Johnson reached the 17th hole with a two-stroke lead. On the penultimate hole she bogeyed, but managed to make par on the 18th to defeat Leta Lindley by one stroke.

After her victory, Trish Johnson shared her impressions with the press. This was part of what she said, according to Golf Monthly:

“I am so knackered, I've got to be honest. Just amazing, honestly. Yeah, it's something I've always wanted to do, win a USGA event. Never even came close in a regular U.S. Open.

“After the front eight holes I thought, here we go again. But rallied a bit and hit some decent shots coming in.”

Trish Johnson's best U.S. Open finish was 10th in the 1998 edition. Johnson had never won a major in the open category, although she came close at the 1991 Canadian Open (then a major), where she finished T3.

How has Trish Johnson's career been going?

Trish Johnson, 57, had a successful professional career in the open category. Between 1987 and 2014 she won 19 Ladies European Tour (LET) tournaments, in addition to three on the LPGA Tour.

The best season of her career was 1990, when she had four victories on the LET (Longines Classic, Hennessy Ladies' Cup, Bloor Homes Eastleigh Classic, and Ladies European Open). That performance earned her the Ladies European Open Order of Merit.

Johnson also represented Europe in eight editions of the Solheim Cup (1990, 92, 94, 96, 98, 2000, 05 and 07). She won two of them (1992 and 2000).

She played 25 matches in the Solheim Cup, with five wins, 13 losses and seven draws. With this result, the English golfer contributed 8.5 points to the European cause. Her best editions were in 1996 and 2000, with 2.5 points won in each one.

In the senior category, Johnson has won five tournaments between 2016 and 2023.