Towersey defeated in Round of 16 against medalist Port

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - No champion likes going down, but at least Marianne

Towersey of Santa Ana Country Club was knocked out Friday without

sniffling back to the clubhouse.

In the Round of 16, and in one of the strongest women’s amateur fields

in the world, Towersey, the Newport-Mesa community’s unquestioned golf

queen, met her match in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Big

Canyon Country Club.

Following an outstanding performance in the second round Friday

morning against Carolyn Creekmore of Dallas, Texas, winning 5 and 4,

Towersey squared off against the championship’s medalist, Ellen Port of

St. Louis, Mo.

But Port made quick work of Towersey, winning 9 and 7, with six

birdies (including a conceded putt on the last hole).

“(Towersey) played great in the morning, and getting that far (to the

final 16) is great, and if she could have beaten Ellen, that would’ve

given her national recognition,” said tournament general co-chairman

Dennis Harwood of Big Canyon Country Club.

Port, a high school physical education teacher, is a two-time U.S.

Women’s Mid-Amateur champion (1995 and ‘96) and is a member of the U.S.

Curtis Cup team.

“I wouldn’t want to face her on another day,” said Port, regarding

Towersey’s rough afternoon, in which the putts simply didn’t fall. “She’s

a great player. I can tell by her swing.”

Port, who shot 6-under-par after 11 holes to win in less than two

hours, also won the Missouri Women’s Amateur championships in 1992 and

‘95.

Towersey, a Newport Beach resident and golf coach at Newport Harbor

High, was clearly frustrated with her putting, yet couldn’t really afford

to miss considering how Port was playing.

For example: On the par-3 hole No. 6, Port yanked her tee shot left,

then holed out from the rough, about 20 yards away, with a lob wedge for

birdie. “I didn’t mean to hit it so high, but it went over a Sycamore

tree and went in,” said Port, 39.

Port birdied the sixth and seventh holes to go 6 up in the match, then

on the par-4 No. 8, Port got up and down for par from the rough, while

Towersey missed a five-foot downhill putt. Through eight holes, it was

Port, 7 up.

On the par-5 No. 9 (475 yards), both players matched incredible

approach shots, with Towersey, playing in front of a hometown gallery,

sticking it to within 2 1/2 feet of the flag, following Port’s approach.

With a 7-wood, Port’s shot over water from 190 yards landed an inch

from the jar on the ninth green.

Towersey, of Newport Beach, conceded Port’s birdie tap-in, but then

missed her own putt as Port assumed a commanding lead at the turn, 8 up.

Two of Towersey’s Newport Harbor golf pupils, juniors Lauren Foster

and Kelly Hunt, were official placard carriers for the Port-Towersey

match.

Asked if there were any good lessons to be learned from the match,

Foster quipped: “She’s not crying, so it’s a good lesson.”

Foster, whose father, Marc, is Big Canyon’s incoming president, said

she recently had a hitch in her right elbow in her golf swing. But

Towersey helped correct it.

“Marianne put a Kleenex box in between my elbows as I swung, and it

kept my elbows in,” Foster said. “Out of all our coaches, she’s the only

one who can teach me anything.”

Part of Towersey’s clinic Friday afternoon included refraining from

throwing golf clubs into a lake. There were moments she probably wanted

to.

“This is the worst I’ve ever played,” Towersey said after missing her

putt on the eighth green.

Port, a boys golf coach and girls field hockey coach in St. Louis,

earned medalist honors after shooting 147 (72-75) on the 5,972-yard,

par-72 layout Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I can feel the teeth (at Big Canyon),” said Port, also a mother of

two toddlers, “but you just have respect for the golf course and have a

conservative game plan.”

On the final hole, Towersey’s chip landed in the water on an

aggressive shot to the green, a do-or-die situation. She walked over to

Port to shake her hand.

But it was a tremendous run for Towersey in the first USGA

championship in the area since the 1993 U.S. Junior Girls Championship at

Mesa Verde Country Club.

Towersey, whose family has a rich history at Santa Ana Country Club,

has captured 16 of the last 19 women’s club championship there.

In addition, Towersey has won three straight Tea Cup Classic titles,

the locally famous women’s summertime event in the Fletcher Jones

Motorcars/Daily Pilot Club Championship Series.

Towersey, the course-record holder at Big Canyon when she carded a 69

on April 25, qualified for match play in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur

Championship by firing a 161 (80-81).

She won the Women’s California Amateur in 1981 and 2000.