Kelli Ann Strand of Challis, Idaho, hits a shot during Saturday’s second round of the Epson Tour Otter Creek Championship. Strand carded a 66 Saturday and leads the tournament by three shots going into Sunday’s final round.
Photo courtesy of epsontour.com
After tying the Otter Creek Championship record with an opening-round 65 Friday, Kelli Ann Strand almost did it again.
The Challis, Idaho, native and former Nebraska golfer fired a 6-under-par 66 Saturday and will take a three-shot lead into Sunday’s final round of the Epson Tour event.
“You kind of have to just like start a new day, like forget what happened yesterday,” Strand told epsontour.com. “I think sometimes it’s easy to compare as you’re playing like, oh, I birdied this hole yesterday, but I didn’t birdie it today. It’s easy to do that, but I think today I kind of stayed steady and didn’t do that too much. Just kind of forgot about yesterday and just started fresh today and tried to play the best golf I could.”
Saturday’s second round was suspended because of rain and lightning with several players still on the course. The second round will be completed starting at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, with the final round beginning no earlier than 9:15 a.m.
Strand had eight birdies and two bogeys in her second-round 66. Some of the holes she birdied Saturday were the same ones she birdied Friday.
“I’ve kind of noticed that I birdie some of the same holes in the practice rounds, too, so I think there’s certain holes that do fit my eye a little better than others,” Strand said. “It kind of confuses me, because some of easier holes that I feel like I should birdie, I don’t, and then the harder holes I birdie, so I don’t know. I think that there are some that I like better than others, I would say.”
That includes No. 13, where she nearly made a hole-in-one.
“I didn’t think it was that close, but got up there and it was a tap-in,” Strand said. “So, I mean, it’s always nice having birdies that are easy tap-ins. I mean, it definitely gives me momentum going into the rest of the holes.”
Jillian Hollis of Rocky River, Ohio, is in second place at 10-under 134 after a second-round 68, and Yu-Sang Hou of Chinese Taipei is third at 8-under 136. Hailey Borja of Lake Forest, California, and Minji Kang of Republic of Korea are tied for fourth at 7-under 136.
The field will be cut to the top 60 and ties after the second round is completed, and it looks as if those at 2-over and better will make it.
Some of the more recognizable names to the local area will not make the cut. Fort Wayne native and Indiana University golfer Madison Dabagia is tied for 81st at 4-over 148, former Zionsville and Clemson player Annabelle Pancake-Webb is tied for 110th at 6-over 150 and former Center Grove and Duke golfer Erica Shepherd is tied for 126th at 8-over 152.
Gabby Barker of Caldwell, Idaho, who won last week’s qualifier at Otter Creek, is tied for 98th at 5-over 149. Epson Tour points leader Riley Smyth of Tequesta, Florida, is tied for 119th at 7-over 151. Savannah Carlson of Downey, California, who won last year’s Inaugural Otter Creek Championship, is tied for 134th at 10-over 154.
