Juli Inkster won her third U.S. Women's Amateur Championship at The Broadmoor's Mountain Course in 1982, and returns this week for the U.S. Women's Open.
But Inkster doesn't think her own USGA history at this year's track offers any advantage.
"That was like 30 years ago," quipped Inkster, 51. "I couldn't remember this golf course, but I can remember a lot of my shots at The Broadmoor."
Still, the two-time Women's Open champion brings to this event a deep history of playing USGA setups and maintaining an Open mindset. She also brings a sense of perspective about herself as a player early in her career compared to now, as a wily veteran.
"I think I was definitely hungrier back then - more competitive," she said. "[But] I don't think my game was as good then as it is now. I don't have the pressure now that I had trying to win my first one. The thing with the Open is just to give yourself a chance on Sunday to do it."
Of course, Inkster's history at USGA events has rendered some ironic outcomes. One of her U.S. Women's Amateur Championship titles (1980) came at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Kansas, where she returned to win the 2002 U.S. Women's Open.
When asked if she could pull off that same feat here this week at The Broadmoor, Inkster just smiled.
"That would be cool," she said. "I'll be all over that. If I get everything under control, I feel like I have a shot."
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