Postillion Knocks Off Former Champions To Face Canadian Lapointe In Final

Richmond, Texas – Medalist Kerry Postillion, 42, of Burr Ridge, Ill., and 45-year-old Mary Ann Lapointe of Canada will play for the Mildred Gardiner Prunaret Trophy after the two advanced victorious out of their U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur semifinal matches Wednesday at the 6,124-yard, par-72 course at Shadow Hawk Golf Club.

Postillion defeated Virginia Derby Grimes, 41, of York, Ala., 2 and 1, while Lapointe outlasted Robin Burke, 43, of Houston, Texas. Postillion is trying to become the first medalist to win since Ellen Port in 2000.

Both the finalists have histories in the event. Postillion, the medalist in 1997, lost to eventual champion Port in the 1996 final. And Lapointe earned medalist honors in 1998.

Mary Ann Lapointe, the medalist in 1998, fought off fatigue in Wednesday's second match to reach the final. (John Mummert/USGA)

For Postillion, a former participant on the Futures Tour, getting back to the final left her trying to compare the feeling to ’97.

“I’m like ‘Wow!’” said the mother of four, who didn’t play any practice rounds. “It hasn’t hit me yet. When I realize it, I’ll be very nervous. It was kind of like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I made it’ back then.”

The last player to register, Postillion has been fundamentally sound in winning her matches. She eliminated last year’s champion, Corey Weworski, earlier in the day before setting her sights on last year’s runner-up in Derby Grimes. Postillion grabbed a 1-up lead out of the chute and didn’t look back. Derby Grimes never held the lead, nor did the match ever get back to even.

It wasn’t so much a case of Derby Grimes being off her game. Statistically she was solid, striking 10 of her final 12 fairways and nine of her final 11 greens in regulation. She couldn’t get putts to drop, or when she had opportunities to slice into the deficit, she ended up with nothing. That happened on the fourth hole, where Derby Grimes pushed a 4-footer past the hole and settled for a halve.

Derby Grimes slipped further behind, falling three holes down on the par-3 11th, when she couldn’t convert a 2-footer.

“I just couldn’t get it to go in,” said Derby Grimes, the 1998 champion.

“I’m not disappointed at all. I’m glad to be where I am. I had some good matches.”

Holding a 4-up advantage and dormie, Postillion allowed Derby Grimes to slowly creep back. She lost the 15th and 16th holes with bogeys. When she walked to the par-3 17th, she took her time selecting a club from her caddie-husband, Vic.

“I kept telling myself, ‘I know she’s a good player,’” said Postillion. “It always seems like she’s in the finals. But I told myself, ‘You have to hang in there.’”

Both found the green, Postillion 18 feet below the hole. Derby Grimes was closer, about 10 feet right of the flagstick. A halve would seal it for Postillion, which would eventually be the case.

“I said, ‘Lord, give me one more good stroke. Please let me make a good stroke,’” said Postillion, who knocked it to a foot and picked up.

In the other semifinal match, Lapointe said she and Burke were worn out from having played four rounds in two days.  “You could tell by the shots that we were both tired,” said Lapointe.  “I was trying to keep up and get that second wind.”

Burke went 20 holes in the morning’s quarterfinal round, defeating two-time champion Carol Semple Thompson on the second hole of sudden death.  With the usual match-play concessions she was 1 over par for that match.  The golf would not be as good in the semifinals with both players finishing at 5 over.

Lapointe jumped to the lead on the first hole, using her cross-handed grip to make a 10-foot birdie putt.  She made it a 2-up lead at the sixth hole when Burke hit a bunker shot over the green and conceded Lapointe’s putt.

Burke birdied the very next hole, the par-3 seventh, with a 25-foot birdie putt to pick up one hole. On the par-5 ninth, Burke hit her third shot to within 3 feet of the hole and made a winning birdie to even the match.

After matching pars on the 10th, on the next four holes Lapointe and Burke played some loose golf.

Burke bogeyed the par-3 11th and conceded Lapointe’s birdie putt to give her a 1-up lead. Both players bogeyed the 12th when they missed par putts in the 6-foot range.  On the par-4 13th hole, Burke hit the green in regulation figures. Lapoint hit her bunker shot over the green and played a very nice pitch, only to miss from 6 feet and make a double-bogey to Burke’s par.  The match was squared.

“I never felt like the match was up for grabs,” said Lapointe.  “We were giving each other some real Christmas presents out there.”

At the 14th, Burke, who was celebrating her 43rd birthday, gave Lapointe a present when she three-putted for a bogey from 30 feet.  That gave Lapointe a 1-up lead

“If there was a turning point in the match, that was it,” Lapointe said.

The 15th was halved with pars, then Burke squared the match with a wonderful iron shot to within 3 feet of the hole at the par-4 16th.

Kerry Postillion said she'd probably be nervous when the final begins. (John Mummert/USGA)

Not even her resolve could help Burke on the par-3 17th.  Her iron shot drifted just inches over the green into high fringe and her chip was some 7-feet short of the hole.  When she missed and Lapointe parred from 15 feet, Lapointe had a 1-up lead with one hole to play.

The 18th is a 437-yard par 5 with a water hazard guarding the right and front of the green. It’s a tempting hole, one that lures a player to try to hit the green in two. Lapointe laid up with her second shot. Burke, needing to win the hole to avoid defeat, tried to cut the corner and hit her second shot closer to the green.  Her ball took a huge bounce and went through the fairway, where she was forced to drop from a cart path into deep rough. 

A valiant wedge shot landed just on the green, but over-spin out of the rough carried it 25 feet past the hole. Burke’s birdie putt stopped just inches from the hole. Lapointe rolled her 20-foot putt to within a foot of the hole and Burke conceded the hole and the match.

“Got any answers?” Burke joked with her husband, Jack Burke Jr., after the match.

“It doesn’t have to be pretty,” said Lapointe, who will become the first foreign player in the final when she faces Postillion Thursday at 8 a.m.

The U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted by the United States Golf Association.  Ten are strictly for amateurs.

Story written by Ken Klavon and Rhonda Glenn.  E-mail Klavon  with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org. E-mail Glenn at rglenn@usga.org.

Quarterfinal Results

Richmond, Texas – Results of the quarterfinal round of match play in the 2005 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at the 6,124-yard, par 72 course at Shadow Hawk Golf Club.

Quarterfinal Round

Upper Half

Kerry Postillion, Burr Ridge, Ill.  def. Corey Weworski, Carlsbad, Calif.  4 and 3

Virginia Derby Grimes, York, Ala.  def. Laura Coble, Augusta, Ga.  1 up

Lower Half

Robin Burke, Houston, Texas def. Carol Semple Thompson, Sewickley, Pa.  20 holes

Mary Ann Lapointe, Canada  def. Thuhashini Selvaratnam, Sri Lanka  4 and 3

Semifinal Results

Richmond, Texas – Results of the semifinal round of match play in the 2005 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at the 6,124-yard, Par 72 course at Shadow Hawk Golf Club.

Semifinal Round

Upper Half

Kerry Postillion, Burr Ridge, Ill.  def. Virginia Derby Grimes, York, Ala.  2 and 1

Lower Half

Mary Ann Lapointe, Canada  def. Robin Burke, Houston, Texas  1 up

Pairing

Richmond, Texas – Pairing for the final round of match play in the 2005 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at the 6,124-yard, par 72 course at Shadow Hawk Golf Club.

Final Round

Kerry Postillion, Burr Ridge, Ill. vs  Mary Ann Lapointe, Canada