New leaders rest atop the score board after 36 holes of the 2017 Women’s Porter Cup. First-round leader Madison Luitweiler tumbled from her perch after signing for 78 on Thursday, while Naomi Ko and Lauren Waller each added a 70 to their first-round 71s to rest at 3-under par, 2 strokes ahead of Lois Kaye Go. 15 other players lurk within 6 strokes of the lead, ensuring that Friday’s final round, projected to go off under near-perfect skies and weather, will be a battle of gunslingers.
Lutweiler marked two birdies on her card during round two, but six bogeys and a double sent her down the leader board, into a tie for 19th place. In contrast, Naomi Ko summoned something deeper to rebound from misfortune. A second-hole bogey was followed by birdies on 3 and 5. After making double bogey on the 7th hole, Ko charged for birdie on 8, 11 and 13. Tied with Ko is Lauren Waller, who struggled to bogey on both front-nine par 3 holes, but manufactured birdies on four other holes to more than compensate for the miscues. The most topsy-turvy round of the day belonged to the other golfer under par, Lois Kaye Go. Go Made 8 bogeys on the day, to go with 5 birdies, 4 bogeys and 1 eagle. Her 69 jumped her up 9 spots, into the thick of things.
The low round of the middle 18 lay in the grateful hands of Kennedy Bodfield of St. Catharines, Ontario. Bodfield began the day with a bogey, and seemed destined for a ho-hum round when 7 pars followed. The demanding 9th represented a paradigm switch, as Bodfield tamed the difficult par four with birdie. Her back nine was immaculate, as 5 pars, 3 birdies and 1 eagle led to a 31 and a 34-spot elevation, inside the top seven. The local contingent was again led by Lancaster’s Chelse D’Antonio. Despite matching her opening-round 74, D’Antonio dropped 7 spots in the standings. Victoria Parker and Maren Cipolla maintained their spots inside the top 50, each with a round in the 70s.
The final round tees off at 8 am on Friday, continuing until 11:50 am. The final threesome of Ko, Waller and Go should finish around 4 pm, with an award ceremony soon after.
