Stephanie Meadow and Cristie Kerr birdied the closing hole on Friday to give themselves a chance from five shots back ahead of the final round of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.
The pair came through Friday’s tricky alternate shot format combining for a one-under par round of 69, maintaining their position in a tie for seventh at 10-under par and now trailing five strokes behind defending champions Cydney Clanton and Jasmine Suwannapura and Pajaree Anannarukarn and Aditi Ashok who lead on 15-under.
“Yeah, we never really got a ton of momentum going out there,” said Kerr, a two-time Major winner with 20 LPGA Tour titles. “Stephanie hit so many good putts that burned the edge all day, and I didn’t really give her a lot of really close birdie opportunities. To not go backwards doing that and to be able to make birdie on the last hole and have a chance tomorrow is big.”
After shooting 62 in best ball on Thursday, Meadow knows the duo are capable of getting on a roll and mounting a serious title challenge should they click in Saturday’s final round.
“Yeah, best ball, you get on a roll, you can shoot 12, 13-under,” Meadow said. “Anything can happen, and I think give yourself some looks and feed off each other like we did yesterday, and hopefully we can time it correctly and make birdies on opposite holes.”
Not only has Meadow been able to play off the energy of her partner but also the fans who have been lining the outside of the ropes to catch a glimpse of a Tour icon in Kerr.
“I’m playing with Cristie, so there’s people shouting her name from the side of fairways, which is not really something I’m used to. But I feed off it and I love it, and I think it’s a huge honour to be playing with somebody that,” Meadow said.
Kerr: “I pay them to do it, though.”
“Yeah, I know, they’re strategically placed,” Meadow laughed. “I think it’s really cool. I think I play better when I’m under a little bit of pressure, so it’s pretty cool.”
Kerr echoed Jordanstown professional Meadow’s sentiments that anything can happen in the final round better-ball format – she’s just chasing a hot start to give themselves a chance.
“You literally could shoot 10 to 14-under in best ball,” said Kerr. “I mean, I think we’re both going to have to bring it tomorrow to have a chance to win. It’ll be nice to be a couple groups back and have less eyeballs on us. But if we can get off to a hot start and continue, there is no reason why you couldn’t get most of them. Weather is supposed to be good, and we’re just going to go out there and do our best.”
- Full scoring HERE
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