Little about the 19th annual Symetra Tour Credit Union Classic remains resolved with 18 holes to play.
A tight leaderboard only got tighter during Saturday’s second round at Drumlins Country Club’s East course, leaving American Rachel Rohanna and Venezuelan Veronica Filibert tied for the lead and four others just one shot back.
Unlike on Friday, when Ellen Davies-Graham notched a 65 and Jackie Stoelting posted a 66, no one in the second round shot better than a four-under-par 67 – and Rohanna, a 2012 Ohio State graduate, had one of them.
After opening with a 69, Rohanna, who sits at 68th on the Symetra Tour money list going into this week (only the top 10 at season’s end are guaranteed LPGA Tour cards), played bogey-free on Saturday. Birdies on three of the first four holes on the front nine, plus a birdie on 13, augmented pars on the other 14 holes.
So Rohanna sits at six-under-par 136, but so does Filibert, who began the day two shots back after starting with a bogey-free 67 of her own. Sitting at 42nd on the Symetra Tour money list, the USC graduate posted a 69 that included an eagle on the par-five 13th hole, highlighting a 69 that included two other birdies and two bogeys.
The quartet of players at 137, five under par, includes Davies-Graham, who shot a 72, seven shots worse than the day before, but didn’t lose touch with the lead pack. Three Americans joined the Australian on 137 – Kaitlyn Sepmoree (who shot 68), Calle Nelson and Garrett Phillips, each of whom posted rounds of 70.
Four more players – Stoelting, Lindy Duncan, Laura Kueny and Lily Alvarez – finished at four-under-par 138, meaning that 10 players are within two shots of the lead going into Sunday’s final round. And 21 golfers are within four shots, meaning that a lot of them could still win.
Not among that large group at the top is Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, who followed up an opening 71 with a 74 and, at 145, just made the cut on the number. In all, 86 players made it to Sunday, not including defending champion Olivia Jordan-Higgins, whose 146 left her one shot short.
Due to concerns about afternoon thunderstorms, tee times were moved up in the morning. Thus, the last group of Rohanna, Filibert and Sepmoree – will tee off at 9:36 a.m., in the hopes that they can finish before weather hits. A year ago, the final round included a four-hour rain delay and a massive downpour just after Jordan-Higgins holed the winning putt.
