U.S. SENIOR WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 25, 2024

Ellen Port

Broadmoor Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. So the front nine of this match, you hit a couple putts, like on 7 and 8, that just had to deflate Shelly because those holes were in the bag.

ELLEN PORT: 1, 2, 3 -- I missed one on 3 out of the bunker, like a three-footer, after I was down 1, I think. Was I down 1 there? No, I went down. I don't know, but I missed a short putt on 3, and I had a couple chances.

Yeah, she made a lot of putts. She putted better. She putted very well.

Q. I know match play is a -- it's kind of a long week, but at the same time, it's not a marathon because each match is like a sprint. Did you approach today differently because you were --

ELLEN PORT: No, I've just been working on some stuff with my swing. I just didn't play as well today. I missed a lot more fairways. I made more mistakes in this match than it seemed like I did all four combined with drives.

Q. It seemed like your driver.

ELLEN PORT: No, it's been really good. I haven't missed more than one or two fairways, I think, in all the matches. I think my legs must have been a little tired. Like I said, I didn't execute as well as I should have with my driver really.

But I hung in there. I made a bad chip on 14, didn't quite get enough power behind that. Hit the same club as I did in the morning to that par-3, and I needed to be below the hole.

She made an eight-foot putt there, a nine-foot putt there. So her putting, even despite my mistakes, I think she didn't open up any doors for me because she made a lot of putts and didn't make as many mistakes.

Q. So the deeper you go into the match with the bracket, you start to see some familiar faces there.

ELLEN PORT: All of them. I played Kerry in the finals my first match. I played Kerry in the finals in the Mid-Am. Second match was --

Q. Judith.

ELLEN PORT: Judith. I played her in the semifinals in the Mid-Am. And then Kim Eaton, I've known her for years, and we never played. So it was really fun to play. So we know most of these people here.

Q. Do you approach the match differently if you know who it's going to be or just play the course?

ELLEN PORT: No. You can't help but know -- when I was going to play Judith, I think she's been the strongest player over the last two years. She's a very good friend. We know each other's game.

I know she's not going to make mistakes, so I can't say don't make mistakes. I just have to be very patient. Patience is a key. So, no, you just have to be patient with every match, with yourself more or less. If I executed the way I can execute, I could have won this match. You know, I didn't, and I had to come from behind the whole time.

You know, I just didn't have my best stuff today.

Q. Even on this last hole today, you just didn't go up. You were grinding that out.

ELLEN PORT: Exactly. That's what's fun. Like I made a big putt on -- I topped my drive basically on 8 and punched it up and had a downhill thing outside the bunker and hit a great little shot and sunk a big breaker to halve that hole.

I just was thinking over that putt, this is so fun to try to -- to be in this situation where you're playing a meaningful round of golf. So I really had a great -- I'm not even upset about this because it's just I played such good golf until really this match, yeah.

Then I had to scramble and fight a little bit, and that was fun, and I did it successfully. She just played better.