Maria McBride holds off Annika Sorenstam to win U.S. Senior Open title

Updated Aug. 23, 2026, 9:03 p.m. ET

ANN ARBOR — Shaking off perhaps some early nerves — to say nothing of some of the legends of the game — Maria McBride won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open on Sunday, Aug. 23, at Barton Hills Country Club.

McBride turned around her round with a chip-in eagle from behind the green at the par-5 ninth hole, regaining the lead that she had lost a hole moments earlier after starting the day with a four-shot cushion.

McBride, 52, rallied to shoot a 1-over 73 to finish the United States Golf Association championship 6 under, two strokes ahead of World Golf Hall-of-Famer Annika Sorenstam, 55, who briefly moved to the top of the leaderboard as she made the turn Sunday. Sorenstam shot a final-round 1-under 71.

Maria McBride celebrates with the trophy after winning the U.S. Senior Women's Open at Barton Hills Country Club.

“Having a big lead coming into today is sometimes a little hard because, you know, you feel like I shouldn’t really lose that many shots,” McBride said. “But with the wind today as well, it was a little bit trickier than it’s been the previous days, and I started off a little rough. But the chip-in on 9 kind of turned everything around for me.

“I was one behind all of a sudden, and then I thought, it’s only one behind. What if you were here without having lost those holes? One behind with nine, 10 holes to go, there’s a big chance still that you can win it.”

And that, she did.

Karrie Webb, another World Golf Hall-of-Famer and Sorenstam’s chief rival from their heydays, surged to a 2-under 70 — just one of just four sub-par rounds Sunday — and finished in solo third place, five strokes back. Catriona Matthew, the 2021 Solheim Cup captain for Team Europe’s victory at Inverness Club in nearby Toledo, shot 3-over 75 and finished 1 over, tied for fourth with Patricia Meunier-Lebouc.

McBride, playing in the final group in this championship for a second straight year, had an early hiccup on a breezy Sunday, making double-bogey at the par-4 third hole. She made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8 to briefly fall out of the lead, behind Sorenstam, who shot a bogey-free, 1-under 35 on the front nine.

Then McBride righted the ship at the 517-yard, par-5 ninth hole, where McBride, the longest hitter in the 50-and-older field (by far), hit her second shot just over the green. She chipped in for eagle and let out a fist pump — and an exhale.

That moved her to 5 under for the tournament, a shot clear of her fellow Swede, Sorenstam, the 10-time major winner who won this championship in 2021 and has finished in the top five of the U.S. Senior Open every year she’s played.

“The eagle she had on 9, it was hard after that,” Sorenstam said. “She just kind of hung in there. … It would have been nice if I could have at least put a little more pressure at least for the last one (the 18th).”

Sorenstam, playing in front of a gallery of at least a few hundred for most of the day, did tie for the lead again with a birdie at the par-4 13th, set up by a nifty approach to 6 feet. But Sorenstam three-putted on the next hole, missing a short putt for par, to fall one back. It was her first bogey of the day.

McBride then made birdie at the 14th and again at the difficult par-3 16th, where she hit a “perfect” 8-iron approach to 6 feet and made the putt to push the lead back to where it started the day, four strokes. Sorenstam had just bogeyed the 16th failing to get up and down from the greenside bunker. Matthew had just doubled the 16th.

Sorenstam bounced back with birdie at the par-5 17th while McBride bogeyed that hole, but she still had a two-stroke cushion heading to 18th, and she sealed the title with a closing par.

After tapping in, she did a little dance, raised her arms, and was treated to a champagne shower from her fellow players, who rushed the 18th green.

The win was the second in as many weeks for McBride, who won the LPGA Legends Championship last week in Indiana. She won five times on the LPGA, but never a major. Now, she has two senior majors in as many weeks. The win earns McBride $180,000 and a spot in the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open at Inverness, about an hour down the road.

“I knew that they were going to chase, and I knew that Annika was always going to chase up there,” McBride said. “Even Catriona I thought was going to be up there and chasing around. … It’s tough out there, especially coming down the stretch with those holes: 13, 14, 15, 16 are tough holes, and I played them 2 under, so I’m very happy about that.

“Having two majors now, it’s really, really amazing.”

Defending champion Becky Morgan, playing in the final group with McBride, finished tied for seventh at 4 over, after a closing 79. She tied with Charlotta Sorenstam, Annika’s younger sister, who shot 69, the low round of the day. World Golf Hall-of-Famer Juli Inkster, 66, tied for 11th at 6 over.

Among the local players in the field, Holland’s Tracy Hanson tied for 30th at 20 over after a Sunday 80; Jackson’s Elaine Crosby, a Michigan Golf Hall-of-Famer, tied for 47th at 26 over after a finishing 81; and Michigan State head women’s golf coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, another Michigan Golf Hall-of-Famer, finished 51st after an 83. Slobodnik-Stoll was one of six amateurs to make the cut.

The U.S. Senior Women’s Open was the third USGA championship contested at Barton Hills, where member and NBC broadcaster Mike Tirico did the first-tee introductions Saturday and Sunday. Barton Hills also hosted the 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

The course drew raves from the players, especially Sorenstam, the first-round leader — even in defeat.

“Gave it a run,” Sorenstam. “Just wasn’t enough.”

The 2027 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, founded in 2018, will be played at Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Washington.