By Marty Stamper / staff writer

The weather may have gotten a few degrees cooler in recent days, but Virginia Derby Grimes of Meridian is beginning to heat up. In fact, her golf game is beginning to sizzle.

The York, Ala., native won a pair of matches Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the 20th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point.

In Tuesday morning’s Round of 32, Grimes defeated Lisa Smego of Olympia, Wash., 4 and 3 and was 2-under par when the match ended on No. 15.

She went 3-up with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 and was 5-up with five holes to play before closing out the match.

In the Tuesday afternoon round, Grimes, 43, was even-par when she closed out her Round of 16 match with Rheba Mabie of Boulder Junction, Wis., with a 4 and 2 win.

Grimes, who won the event in 1998, won holes with pars on Nos. 4, 6 and 7, then went 4-up with a birdie on No. 9.

“I just decided to come out of the gate and start hammering early,” Grimes said. “That’s what you need to do.”

The tournament consists of eight rounds in six days.

In this morning’s quarterfinal round at the 6,151-yard, par-72 course, Grimes will take on a familiar foe in Laura Coble of Augusta, Ga., with an 8:20 a.m. tee time. Coble advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3 and 2 victory over Martha Leach of Hebron, Kent.

“She’s a good player,” Grimes said. “She’s a good friend of mine. She’s the new Augusta (Ga.) State women’s golf coach.

“I knocked her out out last year. She might be looking for me.”

That winner will play the Thuhashini Selvarathan-Mari Miezwa winner this afternoon in the semifinals with a 1:45 p.m. tee time.

The finals are slated for Thursday morning with a 9 a.m. tee time.

In opening-round action on Monday, Grimes defeated Barbara Byrnes of Mesa, Ariz., 7 and 5. She was 1-over par before closing out the match on No. 13.

Grimes won the eighth through the 11th holes with pars to go 6-up and closed out the match with a birdie on No. 13.

Players qualified for the Round of 64 with 36 holes on Saturday and Sunday.

Grimes’ 1-over par 145 was second only to Dawn Woodard’s 2-under par 142.

Grimes has played 80 holes thus far at even-par.

“I’ve been pretty consistent,” Grimes said. “I’ve been around even-par most of my rounds.

“It’s playing long in a lot of places because we’ve had some wind and the weather’s cooler. Conditions have totally changed,” Grimes said. “Last Thursday was a washout with 2.8 inches (of rain) and they had 5.3 a week ago Monday. It’s dried out some now and we’re getting a little roll out of it.”

She has yet to play Nos. 17 and 18 in match play.

“Those last two holes are tough,” Grimes said. “If you don’t have to see them, you really don’t want to see them. They’re really great finishing holes.”

The Women’s Mid-Amateur, for women amateurs age 25 and older, is one of 13 national championships conducted by the USGA.