Two women from Roseburg who are members of Pine Ridge Golf Club in Springfield are among the 132 qualifiers for next week’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.

“What are the odds of that?” asked Anita Wicks. “One in 10 million, 100 million, something like that.”

Wicks and Charlotte Barley are off to Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Country Club to compete in the USGA event beginning Aug. 24. Both are making their second appearance in the tournament for women 50 and older that features two days of qualifying before the top 64 advance to match play.

Barley, who taught at Springfield High School for 27 years and coached the boys golf team for 14 years, made the field in 2012 when she fell short of reaching match play. She shot 77 during the qualifying round at Meadow Hills Golf Course in Aurora, Colo., on July 24 for a return trip to the national event.

“I remember being a nervous wreck in 2012, that was the big stage for me,” she recalled. “I played well the first day and then had a blowup hole on the second day to miss qualifying by three strokes. I think that experience really helped me. When I played in the qualifier last month, that was the most relaxed I’ve ever been in a tournament. I want to get to match play, that’s my goal.”

Wicks also shot 77 in qualifying at the OGA Golf Course in Woodburn to make the field for the second time in three years. She placed 32nd in the qualifying rounds at Waverly Country Club in Portland in 2017 before losing 2 and 1 in the first round of match play.

“My goal is to see if I can get past the round of 64, maybe get to 32 and if my putter is hot, maybe the round of 16,” Wicks said.

Barley graduated from Roseburg High School in 1975, six years ahead of Wicks. The two met for the first time when they were paired up in an Oregon Women’s Golf Association team tournament about 15 years ago.

Barley and Wicks will team up Friday for a Valley League event at Illahe Hills Country Club in Salem featuring women from six golf clubs around the state. They will compete against each other Saturday and Sunday in the Pine Ridge women’s championship before heading to Iowa.

Barley has been a member of Pine Ridge, formerly known as Springfield Country Club, for 33 years and has won nine club championships. Wicks recently joined the club after winning 21 women’s club titles at Roseburg Country Club.

Wicks’ first USGA event was the U.S. Girls Junior championship at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kan., in 1980 when she was 17.

“That was the last year you didn’t have to go through qualifying, you just entered,” she said. “I was pretty lucky to sneak in when you didn’t have to qualify. At least I broke 90 for two days.”

Wicks went on to play at Oregon State and turned pro after college before regaining her amateur status. She is a four-time OGA Senior Women’s Stroke Play champion who also won the 2016 OGA Senior Women’s Amateur title.

Wicks, who is a licensed tax preparer for H&R Block in Roseburg, qualified for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur on her first attempt when she was 54.

“The first few years, I just didn’t think I was good enough even though everyone kept telling me I was,” she said. “In 2016, I won the OGA Senior Amateur and then won the PNGA Senior Amateur the week after that and that’s when I decided I was going to try and qualify.”

Barley didn't take up golf until she was in college at Oregon College of Education, now Western Oregon University, where she met her husband, Ken, a golf enthusiast. The two have turned qualifying for the Senior Women’s Amateur into a vacation each summer.

“Every year we pick a different place to go,” she said. “Rather than stay local, we take a trip and go for a week or two. This year we went to Colorado and then explored Yellowstone and Wyoming.”

Now the Barleys will begin another road trip Sunday when they drive to Iowa where Ken Barley will caddy for his wife.

“He’s a good caddy,” Charlotte Barley said. “Through experience, we’ve learned how to communicate without fighting.”