SSU grad Spencer Heller ready for US Women’s Open

This year is shaping up to be pretty epic for Spencer Heller.

An All-American golfer while at Sonoma State, she qualified last month for her first major golf tournament. And it’s a biggie: the U.S. Women’s Open, starting Thursday at CordeValle Golf Club in Santa Clara County.

A few months later, the Turlock native will marry her fiancé, Steven Warne, a Santa Rosa native she met on the golf team at SSU.

“It’s been pretty special,” she said Tuesday after finishing a practice round at CordeValle.

Her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Sara Warne of Santa Rosa, is a little more effusive with her assessment:

“This is so awesome and amazing!” she said last week, as Heller and her son planned for the Open.

Steven Warne, 26, in addition to bridegroom, is Heller’s caddy. He’s also her best friend, moral support and technical adviser on the links.

Heller, 25, who works at Santa Rosa Golf and Country Club, has been playing on the Cactus Tour, a smaller professional women’s tour mostly around Phoenix, for almost three years.

She was the tour’s leading money winner last year, with $25,766, and has netted $13,926 so far this year with one win in 12 events.

But playing at the U.S. Open is worlds away from those tournaments.

Warne says she’s up for it.

“She works harder than anybody I know,” he said. “She’s a four-time All-American, both athletically and academically, which is a testament to her work ethic. She grinds at it.”

While at Sonoma State from 2009-2013, Heller broke just about every school record there was.

Her career win-loss percentage was nearly 90 percent in head-to-head competition and she was an individual medalist seven times, according to SSU records. In 50 career tournaments, she had 40 finishes in the top 10 and 25 in the top five.

Heller was an honorable-mention All-America pick as a freshman and sophomore, a first-team pick as a junior and second-team her senior year.

She shaved more than two strokes off her average score over her college career, setting records each year.

“It’s been fun to watch, fun to see her grow from college to now, to see her qualify for the biggest tour in world,” said Warne.

To qualify for the Open, golfers must finish in the top two at one of the USGA’s sectional qualifiers. Heller accomplished that last month, finishing one stroke off the lead at the Terravita Golf and Country Club qualifier in Scottsdale, shooting 144 over two rounds.

Since qualifying, she’s been working with a golf coach in her new home, Phoenix, and has measurably bettered her short game, she said.

“I’ve seen drastic improvement from where I was when I qualified,” she said.

Dozens of family members and friends from Sonoma County, and likely at least that many from the Central Valley, will line the fairways rooting for Heller in her first major.

The Open, one of 13 national championships sanctioned by the United States Golf Association, is the grand dame of the LPGA Tour’s five majors, which also include the ANA Championship, the Women’s PGA Championship, the British Open and the Evian Championship.

Established in 1946, the tournament is the only one to have been recognized as a major by the LPGA since the group’s founding in 1950.

Heller is among 156 golfers scheduled to play in the four-day, 72-hole tournament at CordeValle. Some are veterans, others young phenoms, still others amateurs with less experience than Heller.

The course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., opened in 1999. It is in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, on 270 rolling acres that include natural elevation changes, streams and wooded areas.

After her prep round Tuesday, she said it was a joy to experience: “It’s one of the purest courses I’ve ever played.”

While Heller has no illusions of walking away with the victory trophy, she can dream of a win like In Gee Chun, last year’s champ. Chun, then just 21 years old, won in her first open performance, turning in a record 4-under par 66 to finish eight under, one stroke up on Amy Yang.

The win netted $810,000.

“I have low expectations, I guess you could say,” she admitted. “Top 50 would be one of my main goals, for my first LPGA event. It’s just an honor to be here and play with the best players in the world.”

Heller still needs to go to qualifying school to get her LPGA card, which she intends on doing this fall.