By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

CHRISTINA LAKE — As players sit down at the scoring table after their rounds at the B.C. Senior Women’s Championship, many of them are asking the same question.

“What did Shelly shoot,” they want to know. The answer Monday was a three-under 70 at Christina Lake Golf Club that included seven birdies.

Shelly Stouffer shows no signs of slowing down after a record-setting 2022 season. In fact, she thinks she may be even playing better than last year.

“I had a really good year last year and I don’t want to be worse this year,” says the Nanoose Bay resident, who has a six-shot lead heading into Tuesday’s second round of the 54-hole event.

That desire to follow up last year with another great year sent Stouffer to the gym, where she worked hard to improve her fitness and strength. “I want to do good things that are going to help me this year,” she said. “I am playing in the B.C. Amateur and the Canadian Amateur, the U.S. Amateur, so I am playing in all these events for younger people. I want to make the cut and perform well there, too. That is really what has motivated me.”

Already a long hitter by senior golf standards, Stouffer has added yardage in the off-season. In her practice round at Christina Lake on the weekend, she hit one of her drives 285 yards. She had a nine-iron into the par 5 18th hole in Monday’s opening round.

“I am hitting the ball farther than I have in the last couple of years,” Stouffer said. “That’s just from all the exercises I am doing. I am just more fit. That length makes a big difference for me.”

Her competitors have noticed. “She looks stronger than last year to me,” said her friend and fellow competitor Karen Kloske of Lake Cowichan. “Everything is right down the middle and she has so much power. Her focus, her positivity, her attitude, is stronger than I have seen it before, so she has a lot of good things that are going to happen.”

Last year, Stouffer won the B.C. Senior, the Canadian Senior, the Canadian Mid-Am and became the first British Columbian to win a United States Golf Association championship by capturing the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. She started her 2023 season by winning both the B.C. Mid-Amateur and Mid-Master titles last month at Sandpiper Golf Course in Harrison Mills.

This week, the 53-year-old is attempting to win her fourth straight B.C. Seniors title and her fellow competitors know that if Stouffer is on her game, they don’t stand much of chance of stopping her. “I have to play my best game and today I didn’t,” said Maple Ridge’s Sandra Turbide, who lost in a playoff to Stouffer at last year’s championship at Fairwinds Golf Course in Nanoose Bay.

“She hits it so long and her short game is very good, too.” Turbide opened the tournament with a seven-over 80. “I was in the rough much of the day,” Turbide said. “You have to be in the fairway here.”

Two former B.C. Senior champions, Holly Horwood of Vancouver and Jackie Little of Procter, are tied for second after opening with three-over 76s. Little, a member of the B.C. Golf Hall of Fame and a multiple national and provincial title-holder, said she loves seeing Stouffer play so well.

“I was saying to my son, it’s kind of neat to see because she has that 53-year-old spunk,” Little said with a chuckle. “I can remember having that, but then when you get to be 65 that spunk isn’t there anymore. I enjoy seeing it because I remember having it and I’d like it back. She is playing so well. It’s fun to see the excitement she has brought to our game. It’s good for B.C. and good for the game.”

Although she was satisfied with her three-under round, Stouffer felt like she could have gone lower. She bogeyed two of the five par 5s on Monday. “I am not disappointed with this score, but I could have been better,” she said. “I was thinking at worst I’d make pars on those two par 5s that I bogeyed.”

The B.C. Seniors is open to players aged 50 and over. Two other competitions, the Super Senior (for players 60 and older) and Super-Super Senior (for players 70 and older) are also being contested. Little leads the Super Senior championship, while Horwood leads the Super-Super Senior competition.

Click HERE for complete first round scoring.