Whipping winds made for brutal second-round situations at Champions Retreat.
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EVANS, Ga. — Rachel Heck plucked her ball out of the cup on Champions Retreat’s 18th inexperienced and gave a faint wave to the gang. She pulled her cap low over her face to cover the tears welling in her eyes.
It was only one:05 p.m. native time, however she knew what the previous three-putt meant for her possibilities of making the weekend. Moments later, she emerged from the scoring space with tears streaming down her face.
On cut day on the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, each emotion is magnified.
“It’s not the way you want to see it end,” Heck mentioned. “[It] got super windy out there and I just didn’t play super well in that … Tough to see it end like that.”
The winds whipped all through the day in northeast Georgia, which made for brutal situations at Champions Retreat — simply ask Heck. On Wednesday, 28 gamers broke par; simply 5 did so Thursday. And in a spherical with such high stakes, rigidity swirled on that wind.
Every missed putt was met with a groan and each flagged iron with a cheer. Each shot might be the distinction between teeing it up Saturday at Augusta National and having to look at your friends from exterior the ropes. Heck felt that ache when she realized she’d missed the cut by a shot, however hers was removed from the one heartbreaking story.
Meja Örtengren, a Stanford commit, started the day teetering on the cut line after an opening-round 74. She performed her first 17 holes of Round 2 in a single over par, and wanted only a 5 on the par-5 ninth to make the cut. The Swede performed the opening in a single too many, and spent the hour after signing her card seated on a curb exterior the clubhouse, staring dejectedly straight forward as her fellow opponents got here off the course.
Zephyr Melton
Her taking part in companion Helen Briem skilled the same distress. She got here to the final needing only a bogey to make the ANWA cut for the primary time in her profession. But after a double bogey 7, she stood behind the 18th inexperienced receiving condolences relatively than congrats from her help system.
“Obviously it’s tough,” she mentioned, her voice trailing off as she choked again tears. “I had lot of trouble with the wind. I felt like every [club] decision was the wrong one. It was just very hard to adjust to all of that.”
Need one other instance of the brutal situations in Round 2? Look no additional than Ashley Menne. Her first-round 69 was among the many better of the day, and left her simply three pictures again of the lead heading into the second spherical. After 18 holes of battling Mother Nature on Thursday, although, she’s amongst these on the unsuitable facet of the bubble at day’s finish. Her second-round 79 was tied for fifth highest on the day, and means she’ll miss the cut for the second-straight 12 months.
Slow-play penalty at ANWA results in agonizing missed-cut for former champion
Zephyr Melton
“Definitely not my round today,” she mentioned. “The wind definitely got to me. The course played very differently than it did yesterday. Things like that can happen in golf. Yesterday I shot 69 and today I shot 79 — I’m just glad I broke 80.”
Anna Davis, the lone former champion within the subject, couldn’t muster a single birdie taking part in within the mid-afternoon winds, however after strolling off the 18th inexperienced, it regarded as if she’d survived the cut on the quantity. Long after her taking part in companions emerged from the scoring space, although, Davis remained. When she finally did exit, her eyes had been pink and puffy from crying. A short while later, the Rules Committee despatched a blast out to the media.
“Anna Davis was assessed a one-stroke penalty for violation of the Tournament’s Pace of Play Policy,” the assertion mentioned. “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.”
The penalty pushed Davis’ rating to 4 over. For the second 12 months in a row, the 2022 champ missed the cut due to the penalty strokes added to her card.
After assembly with the event guidelines committee, Davis walked out together with her father, Bill, who had his arm round her shoulder. She declined to talk with the assembled media.
That’s to not say that each story had a bitter ending on Thursday. Carla Bernat Escuder, the final participant included within the subject, entered the day six over for the event after a sloppy 78 in Round 1. But after a four-birdie, one-bogey efficiency — the spherical of the day by two strokes — she earned herself a Saturday tee time on the grandest stage on golf.
“I can’t believe it,” Bernat Escuder mentioned. “I just — I’m really proud of myself.”
She’ll enter the ultimate spherical eight strokes again of the tempo set by chief Lottie Woad. But if Saturday at Augusta National performs out something like Round 2 at Champions Retreat, no lead can be secure.
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