Teen shares three-way lead at women’s amateur

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This article was published 07/07/2022 (1551 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jeri Lafleche has been here before — pacing the field, entering the final round of a renowned provincial tournament.

The 15-year-old was in the same spot during last year’s Bantam Championship at Transcona Golf Club, where she emphatically clinched the title on Sunday to win by 12 strokes.

She’ll look to rekindle some of that magic on Friday afternoon at Granite Hills Golf Club, this time against some of the best women’s golfers the province has to offer, in the 105th Diamond Athletic Women’s Amateur.

Lafleche made a statement with her Thursday round, firing a tournament-low 75 to rest at 12-over par on the championship.

Bouncing back from an 81 on Wednesday that left her two strokes back of the lead, Lafleche settled into her second round as she finished the front nine. Lafleche closed her last 10 holes one-under par, thanks to a trio of birdies.

“My putter was definitely way better, getting to know the greens definitely helped, and my drive was down the middle so it’s easy to start off a hole when you’re straight,” she said after her round on Thursday.

“I wasn’t able to do a practice round so it was a bit of a guessing game (on Wednesday). Being able to really be confident in my shots (today) was a big help.”

Lafleche won’t have much room for error going into Friday’s round.

In fact, she has none.

Addison Kartusch, another surging young talent who Lafleche bested at last year’s Bantam Championship, and Veronica van der Meer, the 2020 Women’s Amateur champ, also hold a share of the lead at 12-over par.

Kartusch and van der Meer have played the most consistent golf of the field so far and haven’t budged from their spots at the top of the leaderboard, posting an identical 79 and 81 through the first two days.

The trio owns a four-stroke advantage over the next closest player.

Lafleche said the confidence she has coming off Thursday’s round coupled with recent experience in big moments will help when her entering one of the most pressure-packed rounds of her young career.

“You start to envision the shots that you hit the day prior and hopefully you can hit the same ones,” she explained.

“(Experience is) definitely helpful. You know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s more fun to play (provincial tournaments) when you’ve played them numerous times, to try beating what you’ve done in the past.”

A balmy day in Lac Du Bonnet made for some favourable conditions on Thursday, especially for those teeing off later in the morning, when the course had dried out.

Ryan Sholdice, who entered the second round five strokes back of Allan McDonald, strung together the only sub-par round of the tournament, so far, posting a two-under 70 to take a one-shot lead entering the final day at the 30th Diamond Athletic Men’s Mid-Amateur.

After an even-par front-nine, the Breezy Bend Country Club representative fired a bogey-free back nine that had two of his four birdies on the day.

Sholdice sits at three-over par through 36 holes.

“Yeah, it was good… I made putts today. Yesterday I was missing two-footers for pars. I made some good birdie putts today on the par fives and hit the ball well off the tee. You have to be in play on this course to shoot any kind of score out here,” he said after his round Thursday.

Sholdice, who had never led at the Men’s Mid-Amateur, currently edges Shilo Country Club’s Drew Jones by one stroke ahead of the last 18.

He kept things brisk yet confident when talking about the key to closing out his first Men’s Mid-Amateur title.

“I’m just going to try doing the same thing as I did today: hit fairways and greens and hopefully make a few putts.”

Competitors are expected to have another sunny round on Friday with minimal wind.