Porter Returns For Some Home Cooking

By BLAIR HOLLEY

Lee Porter of Greensboro is one-up on Davis Love born in Charlotte and retains that advantage even when the next generation is considered.

Here's the thing, everyone is used to seeing the III tacked on to Love's name, but the PGA and media neglect to add IV to the Porter name. Carrying it further, Love named his son Davis IV in 1993 but Porter countered with his own Lee McGehee Porter V in 1998.

For the present, that's where the Porter edge ends, since Love is the far better recognized PGA player. He has won a million dollars or more in six of the last seven seasons and finished ninth on the money list in 2000. He’s already won a tournament this year.

Porter brought home about $120,000 last year, mostly from playing on the Buy.com Tour. Not bad money for someone who works a 9-5 job locally. But when that gets eaten up at about $2,500 a tournament in expenses, there isn't a whole lot left. Of course, the high weekly expenses occur when Porter's lovely wife Michelle and little Lee join him on the circuit. But then, he notes it's "tough to tear yourself away from them for too long a stretch."

And he's done some first-class "tearing away" but most of it before Michelle and he were married in 1994. Prior to that, his suitcase had a wide array of stickers on it as he played on the Asian Tour several years, once winning its Order of Merit, the Canadian Tour, the South American Tour, the PGA European Tour and the Japanese Tour.

Porter's biggest victory thus far came in the 1991 Venezuelan Open. "That's the only one of consequence I've had other than four tournaments on the Florida mini tours," he offers.

Last year was a downer which forced Porter to endure the dreaded Qualifying School. He did well, finishing 21st for a position which gets him into most PGA Tour events that don’t attract huge fields.

So far in 2001, Porter has had the thrill of leading a tournament at the 36-hole mark, firing a second-round 65 to give him a 10-under 134 at the Tucson Open in mid-January. "I'd never led a PGA Tournament after two rounds and that can only help down the road, even if I didn't win."

His putting touch deserted him and his scores soared to 76 and 74, dropping him all the way down to a tie for 48th and only $7,387.50 in prize money. And shortly after that, he collected $12,250 in the Buick Invitational, again fighting a flighty putter.

Players in Porter's category are ranked for tournament eligibility and those rankings are reshuffled after every five Tour events. The Greensboro native expects no problem for entry into this year's Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic at Forest Oaks Country Club.

Porter says, "I'm looking forward to playing, although I've never played particularly well in it. But I enjoy it."

Porter says he plays a little better closer to home. "The grains on western courses with their poa annua give me a fit."

Porter took a huge step toward a pretty good year and probably assured himself of a spot in the GGCC. I'm sure Joe Durant was ecstatic to win the Genuity Classic at Doral in Florida on March 4 and claim not only $810,000 but also a ticket to the Masters. Right behind him on the ecstasy scale had to be Lee Porter.

After posting a trio of 69 cards over the first 54 holes, Porter stayed under par with a closing 71 on the famed Blue Monster, which earned him a tie for eighth and $126,000. With smaller checks from the Tucson Open and the Buick Invitational, that puts the Porter 2001 earnings total at almost $146,000 and should put last year's disappointment behind him.

Interestingly, Porter has his own web site at http://leeporter.com. It had posted, prior to the Doral event, "Lee is ready for The BLUE MONSTER." Prophetic, eh?

What Porter achieved at Doral is a big step. Everyone says a PGA Tour pro must be consistently able to put four rounds under par together to win meaningful money.

Previously, the 1998 Greater Vancouver Open has stood out in Porter's resume, as he fashioned rounds of 67-67-71-66 for third place, his highest PGA finish.

That year was a good one, as Porter banked $325,415 for a 95th-place finish on the money list and thus earned eligibility for 1999 events. Unfortunately, 1999 was a bad year for the Porter fortunes, as he slipped almost 100 places down the list and was forced on the Buy.Com Tour for 2000.

Porter was a standout for the Guilford College team. He graduated in 1989 with a degree in business management/accounting. "My dad's background," he notes.

He feels he has matured over all these years of golf travel and competition.

As for right now, he says, "I'm trying to be as patient as I can. What you do year-to-year changes and parts of my game have gotten better."

Putting has been his weakest skill. That sent him to a left-hand-low grip in 1997 and he has done appreciably better.

What does he see 4-5 years down the road? "Hopefully, I will never have had to go back to Q-School. I feel I have a lot of good years ahead of me."

A bunch of friends, family, great wife and a fine little guy with his own number believe that too.

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