Apparently when Mary Bea Porter-King talks golf, kids across all ponds listen.
The co-founder of the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association took her nurturing talents to Scotland last month after being named the Ping Junior Solheim Cup captain for the U.S. team.
After two days of incredibly competitive golf — and one decisive American afternoon — the U.S. is now 7-2-1 in the series, with wins in the past six matches.
Porter-King’s team was composed of the top 10 players based on a combination of the Rolex AJGA and Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Girls Rankings, and two captain’s picks.
She didn’t have any Hawaii girls — Stephanie Kono, Mariel Galdiano and Kimberly Kim (twice) have played in the past — but she did have 2017 Junior Solheim veterans Rachel Heck, from Tennessee, and Luci Li and Rose Zhang, from California.
Her team beat its European opponents, 13-11, thanks in large part to a dominant (4.5-1.5) victory in fourballs the first afternoon.
What were Porter-King’s words of inspiration to her team?
“As many HSJGA juniors will tell you, they learned from me when playing in the Asia Pacific Junior Cup over the years a saying I teach them — ‘The Lead Dog has the Best View,’” Porter-King recalled. “I have watched many of the best match-play players win matches. Tiger Woods is one. I never saw him walking behind his opponent.
“It was hysterical to watch them run off the first tee to make sure they had the best view. One of them told me it made her feel more powerful, she won her match.”
Porter-King was surprised to go from Kauai to Gleneagles. John Solheim called her last fall and “never in my weirdest dreams would I have guessed what he was about to say,” she admitted.
The son of Louise and Karsten Solheim — founder of Ping golf club manufacturing and the Solheim Cup — wanted Porter-King to join a list of U.S. captains that includes JoAnne Carner, Kathy Whitworth, Meg Mallon and Nancy Lopez.
There was family history. Louise and Karsten had reached out to Porter-King when she was turning pro, after her sponsor suddenly died as she finished up at Arizona State, where she is now in the Hall of Fame.
Their support helped form the future of the woman who played on the LPGA tour for 25 years, moved here when she married Kauai’s Charlie King and co-founded the HSJGA in 1998 when she retired.
The most memorable moment in her career came a decade earlier, when she climbed a fence during an LPGA event to save the life of a drowning 3-year-old boy in Phoenix.
The Mary Bea Porter Humanitarian Award has been presented annually since 1989. She recently received the USGA’s Ike Grainger Award for 25 years of volunteer service, including five years on its Executive Committee.
She was also on the PGA of America’s National Board of Directors and served five years on the PGA Rules Committee.
She has officiated at U.S. Opens, The Masters and PGA Championship, the British Open, NCAA championships and … the Solheim Cup, which the U.S. adults lost this year on Suzann Pettersen’s final putt.
The U.S. kids did not give the Europeans that chance.
“It was quite the victory, very close, it went up and down all day, they were ahead, then behind,” Porter-King said the final day. “I’m exhausted and I didn’t hit a shot.”
Winning was sweet, but will not be her most vivid memory. That was “watching the future of our game from both sides and knowing our game is in good hands,” with a thousand school kids cheering behind the ropes.
Before the competition started she told her players, “I have loved getting to know each of you more during our team meetings. I love seeing how you interact with each other. I even like your music. Over the next two days you have an amazing and powerful opportunity to represent your country. I look forward to watching you play as a team while making memories for a lifetime.”
She expects to see almost every player from both teams competing in college soon. And, after the impact she has had on Hawaii junior golf, no one will be surprised to see another girl from here playing on a Solheim Cup team soon — junior or otherwise.
Michelle Wie, who sent Porter-King an encouraging text in Scotland, has been on five Solheim teams. She worked for Golf Channel during this one, while recovering from injuries and wrist surgery.
“Being around junior golfers constantly forces you to see the game with fresh eyes,” Porter-King said in Scotland. “Most of us only get to fall in love with golf once, through our own experience. Being part of the 2019 Ping Junior Solheim Cup means I get to fall in love with the game all over again through the eyes of these wonderful American players.”
