On those days when the stars align and the golf news is brilliantly upbeat, there is no one who comes into my mind any quicker than Robin Romano. She was my assistant sports editor at The Boston Globe, but more importantly, Robin was a mentor, an inspiration, a fountain of common sense, and, best of all, a charter member of my circle of golf friends that has for years provided definition to my life.

That she died at 45 in 2000 still sickens me, so whenever there is a switch needed to turn on lovely memories of Robin, they’re not hard to find.

Any drive past Presidents Golf Course, for instance. It is where we first played golf together and where, at the first tee, Robin politely asked, “Would you mind if I played the blue tees?”

Little cocky, I thought, but go ahead.

Five holes later, we were at No. 6, the most difficult hole on the course. Robin was level par, I was 4-over, and so I politely suggested, “You stay at the blues, but would you mind if I played the red tees?”

She laughed, waved off my suggestion, and continued to beat me like a drum. Didn’t hurt a bit, either; I’m a huge fan of competitive spirit and a passion for golf and Robin’s life overflowed with both.

Which is why, when other switches were flipped last Wednesday to remind me of Robin, I couldn’t stop smiling. Oh, how Robin would have loved what took place in Missouri and in Western Massachusetts because no one believed more than she that women had a stake in this game.

In case you missed it, in Missouri Ellen Port, 59, won the Metropolitan Senior Amateur in her home state, beating a gentleman named Joseph Malench in a four-hole playoff at Sunset CC. Savor the details, how Port shot 72-67 from the same tees, how she defeated a field filled with men, and how she maintained impeccable dignity through the victory presentation.

“That’s a beautiful trophy,” she said. “That trophy doesn’t know if it’s a man or a woman holding it; it just knows it’s someone who loves golf.”

In case you missed it, on that same day at Tekoa GC in Westfield, Shannon Johnson – the only woman in a field of 79 – shot 1-over 72, tied for sixth, and qualified for the upcoming Massachusetts Mid-Amateur at Weston GC.

This would have especially tickled Robin, not because it’s the second time Johnson has earned her way into the State Mid-Am (she was T-48 in 2018), but because Thorny Lea GC in Brockton is Johnson’s home club. That, too, is where Robin belonged and it’s where she never stepped away from any chance to compete against a deep and talented group of male golfers.

Robin would have been proud of Port, just as she’d have been proud of Johnson and proud of Seul-Ki Hawley, the teaching professional at Winchester CC who earlier this summer became the first woman to play in the Massachusetts Open.

Not because Robin was adamant that women had to prove themselves. But because she had faith in golf that it would prove itself.