The cut is set for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur’s final round, and Augusta National Golf Club will be ready to host 35 remaining golfers for Saturday’s final round.
First-round leader and University of South Carolina junior Hannah Darling is among that number, as she finished in a tie for fifth place after a second-round, 5-over par 77 score.
Thursday’s second round of action at Champions Retreat produced a different top-four on the ANWA leader board with world No. 4 player Lottie woad of England claiming the top spot with a two-stroke lead over Gianna Clemente and Maisie Filler who were tied for second place.
It was a day where Florida was well represented, in that Woad is a Florida State sophomore while Filler, the NCAA’s top-ranked golfer is a junior at the University of Florida.
Meanwhile, Clemente is a 16-year old 2023 Girls’ Junior PGA champion out of Estero, Florida who’s making her second ANWAY appearance. Last year, Clemente advanced to the final round in her ANWA debut and finished in a tie for 14th place.
Woad’s performance was particularly impressive, considering the course’s windy conditions that constituted for only five golfers breaking par. It was also quite the rally for the Seminole golfer after she struggled in Wednesday’s opening round that saw her finish 3 over par complete with a double bogey during the front nine.
Shooting a 33 on the back nine saved her, and, perhaps to her own slight surprise, gave her momentum heading into Friday’s practice round at Augusta National.
“I didn’t think I’d be leading when I was 3 over through eight today,” Woad said. “Just trying to hang in there with it being so difficult. Just trying to get the numbers right because on the front nine, I was either flying the green or leaving it short. Just trying to calculate how much the wind was affecting it, and then I just holed a few putts on the back nine which helped.”
The wind helped no one Thursday with gusts reaching close to 30 miles per hour at times. It called for a switch up of strategy for Woad on the par-5 ninth, and that’s actually what started her comeback.
“I think I reset on the nine,” Woad said. “I had like 130 in, and I hit 7-iron because it was so into the wind, and I hit it to like one foot, so finally made a birdie and that just set me back. I kind of saw the leaderboard at that point, because at the time I thought I was doing terribly, but I was actually like maybe fifth or sixth at that point.”
Darling called the day “a grind,” and called it one of those moments in golf where she had to control what she could control and try not to worry about what she couldn’t.
“It was pretty tough today,” Darling said. “Me and my caddie just kept saying, you know, pick a really smart target, pick a really good number, and hit a really committed shot to that. Whatever happens from there happens. I don’t think we really hit that many bad golf shots today, but [we] hit a lot of shots that were made [to] look bad by the wind.”
Filler said difficulties were expected once she learned of Thursday’s weather forecast.
“Yeah, it was definitely a battle. I knew that going in,” Filler said. “My sister and I had a good mindset going in that it was going to be a battle, so we had 18 battles, and we just kept counting down. We’re like, nine more battles, five more battles, and we just took it on with confidence.”
It capped an eventful day where history was also made for Mirabel Ting who became the first player from Malaysia to advance to ANWA’s final round. She, along with Darling are two of eight players sitting at a tie for fifth place.
Aside from that, Anna Davis left Augusta National prematurely for the second straight year after being cut from the field due to a penalty.
The official statement from Augusta National is as follows:
“Anna Davis was assessed a one-stroke penalty for violation of the Tournament’s Pace of Play Policy. Her group, which included Lottie Woad and Maria Jose Marin, was notified that they were out of position multiple times during their second round. While being timed, Davis received her first bad time after playing her second stroke on hole No. 5 and received her second bad time following her second stroke on hole No. 17. She was subsequently assessed a one-stroke penalty, which was applied on hole No. 17.”
Last year, Davis received a pair of penalties that set her back four strokes after she picked up her ball twice from the rough on the first hole during the first round of the 2023 ANWA. Davis was the tournament’s 2022 champion.
