Juli Inkster played her last full season on the LPGA in 2021, but her last of 31 career LPGA wins came back in 2006. So when Inkster, who is 65, showed up to play in the LPGA’s Standard Portland Classic earlier this week — as a tune-up for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open in San Diego next week — you could understand why some of the younger players in the field had no clue they were playing alongside a Hall of Famer.
Or at least which Hall of Famer.
“Most of them think I am JoAnne Carner,” Inkster said with a laugh Friday afternoon.
JoAnne Carner, as in the 86-year-old LPGA legend who won 43 times and, in 2004, became, at 64, the oldest player to make an LPGA cut, at the Chevron Championship.
Safe to say, though, those young’uns won’t confuse Inkster’s identity again.
That’s because Inkster shot a two-over 74 on Friday, which paired with her opening 69 moved her to one under for the tournament and — for a while, anyway — in position to make the cut on the number. If you closely read the fourth paragraph of this story, you already know that would have made Inkster the oldest player to make a cut in LPGA history, an achievement that she could add to a glittering resume that includes three straight U.S. Women’s Amateur victories, seven major titles, nine appearances on the U.S. Solheim Cup team as a player and another three as captain.
Inspiring stuff, right?
Um…not so fast.
“It wasn’t very inspiring,” Inkster said after her round, a San Francisco Giants cap pulled low over her brow. That’s the thing about great ones: They demand perfection of themselves, and despite having outplayed dozens of players half her age, Inkster still was less than pleased with her driving and “sloppy” play on the par-5s.
“Wasn’t one of my best days,” she said.
Thursday was better. In the first round, every part of Inkster’s game was working and she made four birdies against a lone bogey. Inkster said she was anxious about entering the event and nervous when she stepped on the first tee. But playing with two players she knew — Stacy Lewis and Hannah Green — helped put Inkster at ease. “Just love watching the young kids swing,” she said. “It’s so impressive.”
As is watching a 65-year-old keep up with players who fly their drives 50 yards or more past hers. In 2022, the last year the LPGA tracked Inkster’s stats, she averaged 218.75 yards off the tee. For context, 32 players in the 2025 season are averaging 270 or longer.
So, would one under be good enough?
When Inkster signed her card Friday, it looked like it might be. The projected cut (top 65 and ties) at that point was minus 1. But projections are just that — a best guess — and as the afternoon-wave players began signing for their own second-round scores, Inkster’s name began sliding the wrong way down the ‘board. By day’s end, 13 players had landed on two under for the week, pushing Inkster and the seven other players at one under into a tie for 67th, one agonizing shot short of the number.
Still, Inkster had no reason to her head. At 65, she’d beaten 70 players and firmly established herself as a favorite for the Senior Women’s Open at San Diego CC next week.
“I think it was really good for me to play,” Inkster said. “I’m glad I put myself out there.”
