When Terrill Samuel cozied her putt on the 18th hole within a couple of feet, it looked like the Canadian Women’s Senior Championship was over.
But then Ellen Port made a tricky downhill birdie putt to cut Samuel’s lead to one. Suddenly, Samuel’s putt looked a little more daunting.
“It changed it. I missed a short putt this week just a bit longer than that. It wasn’t straight in, so it made the putt this long,” she said, spreading her hands apart before pulling them closer, “instead of this long.”
Samuel would make the putt, though, capping a one-stroke victory over Port to capture her third Canadian senior title Thursday at The Club at North Halton.
Samuel carried a four-shot advantage into the final round, but that quickly shrunk to two when Port birdied the second hole and Samuel carded her only bogey of the day. After giving a shot back, Port made back-to-back birdies to close the front nine and move within one of the lead.
“She’s an awesome player. She was putting really well, she hitting it really well, so I was trying to hang in,” Samuel said. “But I said, ‘I’m still in the lead. I remember Tiger saying that. I’m still in the lead so she has to come at me.”
Both golfers were unaware that in the group ahead, British Columbia’s Shelly Stouffer was tearing up the course with six birdies on the front nine to also close within a shot of the lead.
“Around the 11th hole, I pulled out my rangefinder to look at the sign for their group,” Stouffer said. “I saw a 1 (over) and a 2 (over), and I thought, ‘OK, I’m in this.’”
But starting the day six back, she was going to need some help, and Port and Samuel refused to budge on the back nine.
For the second day in a row, Samuel birdied the 14th hole, the par-4 that played as the course’s toughest hole, yielding just eight birdies in almost 300 rounds.
Trailing by two, Port refused to concede. She made a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 17, only to be answered by a seven-footer by Samuel to maintain the two shot advantage. Though Stouffer turned in a solid back nine (eight pars, one bogey), she couldn’t make up any more ground despite matching Port’s 68 for the low round of the tournament.
Samuel finished with her second straight day of one-under 71, finishing 2-under for the tournament to claim her first national senior title since 2015.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Samuel said. “It’s surprising how emotional you get. It was a really tough field. It makes even more of a special win because it was a strong field. The two players I played with today, I’m not sure how many U.S. seniors they have but it’s probably eight to 10. It’s a lot, so they’re the top players in the United States.”
Port, a three-time U.S. Senior Women’s and four-time Mid-Amateur, was playing a tournament in Canada for the first time in more than 30 years.
The Missouri native was the only player to record a pair of rounds in the 60s, but said a six-hole stretch in the second round in which she made five bogeys proved costly. Still she was proud of being able to battle her way back into contention.
“That was a big swing on the second hole. I made a great up and down. I tried to stay patient and I felt like I could stick in there,” she said. “That birdie on 17 right on top of mine, was big. Terrill won this tournament. I didn’t lose it.”
Former Georgetown resident and Club at North Halton member Mary-Ann Hayward finished eighth.