Lee-Anne Pace got the rough end of the draw on Friday, but held on valiantly to reach the halfway mark of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey in a share of fifth on three-under-par.
She carded a two-over-par 73, which saw her slip four places down the leaderboard which she topped after her opening 66. In any event, she was just two strokes off the lead which was held by Ireland’s Leona Maguire. Maguire was on five-under, one clear of Mel Reid of England, Celine Borge of Norway and Xiyu Lin of China. Pace shared fifth with Australia’s Minjee Lee.
“The rain was tough,” said Pace. “We got it on all the tough holes, as well, like number. Three was such a difficult hole today. I think even without rain it’s a tough hole. But yeah, then it kind of eased up. It’s like on and off. Now the afternoon is probably going to be perfect. But it is what it is. You’ve just got to play the shot and play the next one and try and make the best of it.”
Pace started her round on the 10th, and her birdie on the 13th seemed to presage a run to the top of the halfway leaderboard. But that was the only shot she could pick up, and she made two bogeys on her homeward nine on the third and fifth.
But it was a bogey on her last hole, the ninth, which got her blood boiling. “I’m really annoyed about my bogey on the last hole,” she said. “I think that might take 10 minutes to blow over. My game plan all along was to pitch in the front edge and roll it up to the middle and not go for the pin, and I did go for the pin, short side, there we go. Well done, Lee-Anne!”
It was that sort of day for the seven-time South African Women’s Open champion. “I struggled today,” she said. “If I have to be honest, I struggled off the tee. I was a bit stuck coming into the ball, so kept flipping it left. I feel like I kept hitting the wrong clubs for some reason and just leaving myself with very difficult putts and chips around the greens and short-siding myself and whatnot.”
She also had to deal with the rain without wearing a rain jacket. “I didn’t because I was stuck already, so that would have been like double stuck,” she said. “So I tried to just be a little bit more free on my swing and not do the little tug left. I didn’t want to get double stuck because then it’s probably going to go right.”
That difficulty was compounded by the weather affecting some old injury issues. “I’ve got a little issue with my back,” she said. “I’ve had it for a long time. When it gets cold like today, it seizes up and then I kind of get stuck. Not loving when that happens. I’ve also got a little issue with my wrist which definitely didn’t help. I hope my body makes it through to Sunday.”
Despite all the chuntering, however, Pace is still in a good place after getting in to a major championship at such a late stage. “It’s a massive bonus definitely,” she said. “It’s nice to be here, obviously, come and visit everybody, and I’m in a good spot and a good position. I’m definitely thinking about the win. There’s no way I’m not.”
Behind Pace, Ashleigh Buhai carded her second-successive two-over 73 to move to a share of 49th and a shot at improving things over the weekend. Paula Reto, however, will miss out after her six-over 77 left her one stroke shy of making the cut.
