England’s Lottie Woad, pictured above, is only one round away from doing so. She has an opportunity to become the first player to win consecutive titles at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA). Woad is a junior at Florida State University and the No. 1-ranked player in the women’s amateur world rankings. During that second round, she fired an eye-catching 2-under 70, leaving her tied with Kiara Romero at the top of the leaderboard.
Romero, who faltered with a 73—10 strokes worse than her first round—staying fierce in the tournament. Her resiliency emerged, most notably after an ugly stretch on her second nine holes. She controlled her struggles even under the heavy weight of expectations. The friendly competition now over, both players will be traveling to Augusta National Golf Club for a practice round together on Friday. That’s going to make for one amazing final round on Saturday!
Kelly Xu created a memorable finish by making birdie on her final hole to clinch her spot in the match play round. Asterisk Talley got off to a great start with a 71 and hoped to stay out of the drama as she punched her ticket to the weekend. On the other side, Ko Kurabayashi from Japan turned in a very impressive round of 65, solidly moving on to play Saturday.
All 71 players will tee it up for a practice round at Augusta National on Friday. Only the first 30 finishers and ties make it to the final round. This introduces a tremendous amount of downward pressure as incumbents seek to lock in their competitive fates.
Woad was very thoughtful about her past experience from last year’s tournament and how it can be an advantage for her this week.
“I’ve got all the experience from last year of the 48 hours between,” – Lottie Woad
She brings that experience into this week’s competition, having proven she can rally and win when the pressure is on in the past.
Emma McMyler had the scariest moment of the day when, making a bogey on the 17th hole, she fell below the cut line. She recovered quickly, making a birdie on the 18th to get herself back to 1-under 143 and safely into the weekend. Megha Ganne, who stayed deep in the mix, shared her secret to having success.
“Tried to create momentum within holes and grinded it out for what I thought was a pretty good 73,” – Megha Ganne
Ganne made eagle on the par-5 seventh as she holed a remarkable 25-foot birdie putt on her final hole to sit one behind the leaders. Spain’s Carla Bernat Escuder had an impressive 68 to claim T7. She now shares the runner-up position with Andre Revuelta of Spain and Ganne, one shot clear of Woad and Romero.
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