Laney Frye (Back of the Range/Sea Island Women's Am)
Laney Frye continues to lead the
Sea Island Women’s Amateur being played in coastal Georgia.
On Wednesday, the rising senior for the University of Kentucky carded a 1-under-par 69 in the second round on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club to reach 10-under through 36 holes, extending her lead to five shots going into the final round of the championship on Thursday.
Frye, a two-time All-American for the Wildcats, will try to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the final round as she plays in the final pairing. Frye finished as the runner-up in this tournament in each of its first two years the last two summers.
She began this year’s third edition with a record score as she fired a 61 in the opening round on Tuesday while bolting to the top of the leaderboard and grabbing an early 4-stroke advantage.
The previous low score was a 65 shot by 2021 champion
Hannah Levi in the first round of the inaugural event.
Frye’s first 18 holes included seven birdies and an eagle at the par-5 15th hole as she completed the first round without a blemish on her scorecard.
Frye nearly made it through the second round without making a bogey as well, but she made her first one in 36 holes when she bogeyed the par-4 ninth which was her last hole on Wednesday. She was among the early starters from the 10th hole for round two.
Frye made a birdie at the 10th hole to start the second round and made her only other birdie of the day at the par-3 17th to make the turn at 2-under for the round and 11-under for the championship.
She would make eight straight pars coming home before the bogey at the ninth.
Three players will start Thursday’s closing round trailing Frye by the 5-shot margin as they are all 5-under after two days. Among them are Ami Gianchandani and Claire Vermette who will join Frye in the final pairing.
Gianchandani, a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year for Yale, followed up her first-round 65 with an even-par 70 and now trails Frye by the five shots after starting the second round four back.
Vermette was a graduate student this past season for Jacksonville State. She shot 66 on Wednesday which tied for the low score of the day while moving to 5-under and into the tie for second.
Rylie Heflin also shot 66 and is tied for fifth at 3-under. She will play in the next-to-last group on Thursday.
Also in that group will be Shannon Kennedy, the third player tied for second at 5-under. Kennedy shot 68 in round two after opening with a 67. She plays at Michigan State.
ABOUT THE Sea Island Women's Amateur
Patterned after the highly successful Jones Cup
Invitational tournaments at Sea Island and Ocean
Forest Golf Club, which began in 2001, the Women’s
Amateur follows the Jones Cup tradition
of drawing the nation’s best female golfers to the
world-class setting of Sea Island. The format is 54
holes of stroke play with a field limit of 84 players.
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