Port Of Call: Three-Time Champion Uses Near Ace At 17 To Edge '98 Champ Grimes

By David Shefter, USGA

Carefree, Ariz. – If Ellen Port goes on to register a record fourth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur title this week, she might consider taking the flagstick and tee marker from the 17th hole at Desert Forest back home to St. Louis, Mo., as a memento.

Ellen Port is two wins away from a record fourth U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur title. (John Mummert/USGA)

You could say that 155-yard, par-3 hole has been quite good to the 46-year-old mother of two.

On Tuesday, Port knocked her tee shot to 6 feet to eliminate Toni Wiesner in the third round. And Wednesday morning, her three-quarters 7-iron shot nearly went into the hole for an ace. The ball rolled up to the flagstick, nudged the yellow pole and stopped 6 inches away for a conceded birdie. It gave Port her first lead against 1998 champion and No. 2 seed Virginia Grimes, 43, of Meridian, Miss.

“I was thinking hole-in-one because I have never had one and I’ve always said I wanted one against a good player in a USGA event,” said Port.

The 2 was quite fine for Port, who managed to hold on for a 1-up quarterfinal win after Grimes missed a 3-foot par putt at 18 to extend the match to extra holes. That came after Port watched her 5-foot par putt slide by the hole.

“I didn’t quite expect it to be that fast,” said Grimes of the final putt. “It just got away from me.”

The match figured to be a grind-it-out heavyweight battle between two players who own 20 percent of the Women’s Mid-Amateur titles and have competed in a combined five Curtis Cups, although never on the same team. Ironically, the two stalwarts had never been matched up in a USGA competition. Grimes got the better of Port one year at the Women’s North and South in Pinehurst.

It appeared Grimes would repeat the feat at Desert Forest as Port struggled at the outset. Port got acquainted with the desert foliage on holes four and seven – taking unplayable lies on both – to lose with bogeys. At the par-5 fifth, Grimes rolled in a 9-footer for birdie and Port’s 8-footer did a complete 360-degree lip-out. Grimes did three-putt No. 6 to give Port her only win on the first nine. But at the ninth, Grimes rolled in a 12-foot birdie to go into the turn with a 3-up advantage.

Grimes knew, however, this match was long from being over, especially against the fiery Port, who seems to thrive in match play. One doesn’t win three Women’s Mid-Amateurs (1995, ’96 and 2000) without having strong intestinal fortitude.

Sure enough, Port swung the momentum in her favor beginning at No. 10. Grimes failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker and Port rolled in a 5-footer for par. Port followed with a 9-foot birdie at the par-5 11th to trim the deficit to 1 down. She maintained that momentum with a pair of nice up-and-down par saves from greenside bunkers at 12 and 13.

Then, at 15, Grimes short-sided herself with a poor approach. She compounded the error by flubbing the ensuing pitch and Port two-putted from 15 feet to square the match.

Virginia Grimes came up a win short of reaching the semis at the Women's Mid-Amateur for a fourth consecutive year. (John Mummert/USGA)

“I think I was lined up there wrong and didn’t realize it until I hit it,” said Grimes.

At 16, Port’s 75-yard approach carried to the back fringe, 25 feet from the hole, while Grimes knocked her third shot to the par 5 within 9 feet. Faced with a tricky putt, Port coaxed her ball into the hole for a remarkable birdie. Like a true champion, Grimes answered by making her birdie putt.

That set the stage for Port’s heroics at 17. At 18, Port came up just short with her approach, while Grimes was 40 feet above the hole. She lagged to 3 feet and Port’s effort was 5 feet short. Port was ready to pump her fist on the putt, but it went to the right. Shockingly, Grimes also missed.

“That doesn’t happen much playing with Virginia,” said Port. “But I think she knew I wasn’t going to roll over after being 3 down either.”

Despite the loss, Grimes was quite pleased with her efforts over the past five days. She never had to play a shot from the desert and only a couple of missed putts kept her from making a fourth consecutive trip to the Women’s Mid-Amateur semifinals. Just prior to the Women’s State Team Championships Sept. 18-20 at The Woodlands, Texas, Grimes paid a three-day visit to Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga., to work with instructors Gale Petterson and Mike Shannon (short-game coach). The visit gave Grimes newfound confidence after she missed the match-play cut at the Women’s Amateur in August at Crooked Stick.

“I just wasn’t swinging well,” said Grimes. “I knew I wasn’t because when I don’t my back will bother me. It’s like an old swing and it hits that spot.”

Grimes could easily play the role in NBC’s new series “The Bionic Woman” after undergoing a series of surgeries for back, shoulder, feet and kidney ailments from 1988-2001. But since returning to competitive action in 2004, Grimes has managed to stay out of the operating room and earned a spot on the victorious 2006 USA Curtis Cup team. She still has aspirations of playing for Captain Carol Semple Thompson in the 2008 Match at St. Andrews.

“I have been playing well all year,” said Grimes. “I would love to play at St. Andrews. We’ll just have to see what happens.”

For Port, the last 12 years have been quite a transformation from someone who ate, breathed and slept golf to one who juggles motherhood – she has an 8- and 10-year-old – and coaching field hockey and boys’ golf at a private St. Louis-area high school.

“It’s just a testimony to the great game of golf,” said Port. “It’s fun to get back in competitive mode here and play match play.

“Everyone think I’m a great match-play player. The thing is I am much more tentative in stroke play. I just haven’t played it very much. I didn’t play college golf and don’t play many stroke-play events. I just tend to get a little looser [in match play]. That’s been my struggle the past few years is focusing and staying patient with myself. But you get a few wins and it’s easier to get that.”

Especially if it come down to No. 17.

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.