{"id":2444176,"date":"2019-05-14T22:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T04:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspens-cusimano-to-compete-in-this-weeks-u-s-senior-womens-open\/"},"modified":"2019-05-14T22:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T04:40:00","slug":"aspens-cusimano-to-compete-in-this-weeks-u-s-senior-womens-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspens-cusimano-to-compete-in-this-weeks-u-s-senior-womens-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen\u2019s Cusimano to compete in this week\u2019s U.S. Senior Women\u2019s Open"},"content":{"rendered":"
Aspen\u2019s Dede Cusimano, a local teaching professional and former LPGA Tour golfer, will compete in this week\u2019s U.S. Senior Women\u2019s Open in North Carolina.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Aspen\u2019s Dede Cusimano tees off Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Senior Women\u2019s Open, it will be the culmination of a few small miracles.<\/p>\n

For one, this tournament didn\u2019t exist two years ago, so it wasn\u2019t an option for older professionals like Cusimano. Also, two years ago Cusimano couldn\u2019t have guaranteed she would have been here to stand on that tee box, let alone any.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted to play well again and I didn\u2019t know if my body could ever handle it,\u201d the 59-year-old Cusimano said of her battle with breast cancer two summers ago. \u201cOnce I got the doctor saying, \u2018You\u2019re OK now, nothing is wrong, you\u2019re fine,\u2019 it kind of re-motivated me to get my game in shape and this is what I wanted. I wanted to get through this qualifier to make it to the Open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cusimano, who is the director of instruction at the Dede Cusimano Golf Academy at the Aspen Golf Club and previously worked at the Roaring Fork Golf Club, not only survived her battle with breast cancer but survived a recent qualifying tournament in California to earn a spot in this week\u2019s Senior Open, being held at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

She has played in seven women\u2019s majors over her professional playing career, but this will be her first senior-level event. In fact, last year\u2019s U.S. Senior Women\u2019s Open at Chicago Golf Club was the first inaugural open tournament for seniors \u2014 players need to be at least 50 to compete \u2014 a long overdue moment for women\u2019s golf, according to Cusimano.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taken a lot of years, but they recognized it. I guess last year it was very, very successful and the USGA has really done a nice job with us,\u201d Cusimano said. \u201cIt\u2019s very important in my industry that you keep your game up because one thing that students love to see is their coach playing in tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cusimano is a nationally recognized teaching professional who had a very successful playing career, which included her competing in five LGPA Championships and two U.S. Women\u2019s Opens. Her last major came in 2014.<\/p>\n

She nearly qualified for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women\u2019s Open last year in Chicago, but lost in a playoff during qualifying and was left \u201cdevastated\u201d and on the outside looking in. From this to her battle with cancer, she had plenty of fuel to make another run this summer.<\/p>\n

Cusimano earned her spot at the senior open by shooting an even-par 72 on April 23 at Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, finishing second in the qualifier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my goal this year to do everything I can to go into that qualifier and play as well as I can,\u201d Cusimano said. \u201cI had to keep the ball below the hole all day long. You couldn\u2019t be above the pin, because if you are you would three or four putt. I just kept it below the hole and hit it really well that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cusimano will tee off from the 10th hole at 1:24 p.m. E.T. on Thursday alongside amateur Kim Keyer-Scott, of Florida, and LPGA Tour veteran Pamela Kerrigan-Johnson, who currently is the ladies\u2019 clinic instructor at Black Rock Country Club in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s field includes last year\u2019s senior open champion Laura Davies, considered England\u2019s most accomplished female golfer who has four LGPA major wins to her name, and last year\u2019s runner-up Juli Inkster of California, a seven-time winner in majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to put pressure on myself. You can\u2019t going into a major like this, because you are going to be playing with some of the best players in the world in the seniors,\u201d Cusimano said. \u201cI\u2019m just going to go out and play my own game. Not get real cute. Just try to hit everything to the middle of the green and hope my putter is going to roll a few of them in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tournament concludes Sunday, with the final two rounds being televised by FS1.<\/p>\n

acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen\u2019s Dede Cusimano, a local teaching professional and former LPGA Tour golfer, will compete in this week\u2019s U.S. Senior Women\u2019s Open in North Carolina.Courtesy photo When Aspen\u2019s Dede Cusimano tees off Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Senior Women\u2019s Open, it will be the culmination of a few small miracles. For one, this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2444176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 06:37:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}