Evans, Ga. — UK’s Lottie Ward moved one round to become the first consecutive winner of Augusta National Women’s Amateurs.
Woad, a junior in Florida and number one player in the women’s amateur rankings, will then head to Augusta National to practice in the final round on Friday and Saturday.
She has a lot of experience not only because she competed at the Masters home, but also because she came together to win on the final day.
“I’ve had all the experience since last year, 48 hours,” Woad said of Friday’s break for all contestants to play Augusta National. “That’s pretty positive for me.”
Romero was dynamic and she had to be after a rough stretch in the middle of the second nine holes. She took the lead with double bogeys on the 4th and bogeys on the 5th, and closed with three straight birdies on the 68th.
They should be a 9-under 135 and an attractive final round along with five players within two shots of the lead.
Spain’s Cara Barnat Eskider had 68 people, and one shot was fired along with Andre Revelta (66) and Mega Ganne of Spain. She was worse at 73 and 10 shots than the opening round, but still very much in the mix.
“I tried to gain momentum in the hole and smash it for what I thought was a pretty good 73,” Gunne said.
The real drama came at the bottom. All 71 players will be able to play practice rounds at Augusta National on Friday, but only have top 30 and ties that make cuts to play in the final round.
Kelly Xu verses her final hole into numbers. Japan’s Kuroichijima also shot a 65 on Saturday to advance.
Emma McMeerer lowered the cut line with a bogey on the 17th, and on the 18th he cut a birdie with a 143 under 143.
Among the 7-under 137 people was Asterisk Tally, who finished runner-up in the US Junior Girls and US Women’s Amateur last year. She also shared the low-amateur honors at the US Women’s Open in Lancaster.
Tully opened at 71 and tried to avoid cutting the drama. It turned out that it wasn’t a problem when she started at No. 9 and made five birdies with a 6-hole stretch that got caught up in 66.
“I was sitting near the cut line and knew I had to play good golf to make the cut,” Tully said. “I started pretty steady on the front nine and then I set a fire on my back.”