INDIANA — Dottie Ardina stayed within striking distance just four shots away from the lead after a 70 Friday entering the third round of the Epson Tour’s French Lick Charity Classic at Pete Dye Course.
Ardina had a topsy-turvy second round which was once again marred by heavy fog and had to be suspended. She’s tied for eighth at four-under 140, midway through the meet.
She finished the round stringing up birdies on the first, fourth, seventh, 13th and 16th to cushion the impact of her bogeys on Hole Nos. 12, 15 and 17.
Abegail Arevalo also managed to complete play with a 73 for joint 24th and one-under 143. The 24-year-old is looking to get out of the rut after getting cut in Twin Bridges and finishing shared 35th in Hartford.
After a splendid 67 in the opening round, Bianca Pagdanganan stumbled with a 76 marked by six bogeys and a double bogey on the 11th.
Other Filipino campaigners are in danger of getting cut once the second round is completed Saturday.
Clariss Guce was six-over 150 after a 78. Pauline del Rosario and Chenelle Avaricio have yet to finish the round but were five-over and 10-over, respectively.
Jiwon Jeon of South Korea got in her round just before the sunset, carding the lowest round ever of 64. The bogey-free eight-under effort beat the previous best round by two shots, with Jeon matching the lead at the same time.
“My shots today were just really great,” Jeon said.
“I hit good shots yesterday, but I wasn’t dropping any putts. Today I just wanted to really trust myself with my golf swing and I worked really hard on my putting after the round yesterday. I wanted to concentrate on my lines more and just trust those lines.”
Joen started her day hot, making four birdies in her first six holes, then making the turn at five under.
The more difficult front nine did not yield any problems for Jeon as she rolled in three more birdies to get to the eight-under mark. Jeon is already a champion this year, looking to join Jenny Bae and Gabriela Ruffels as the only two-time winners in 2023 with two more strong rounds this weekend.
“I hit eight greens on my front nine, which is the back nine because I started on 10,” Jeon said.
“I was able to shoot five-under, which was great. I was really proud of myself throughout the round and being able to hang in there. The front nine is a tricky nine for me so I just tried to keep it simple on that side and I did a really great job of that.”
Maddie McCrary joins Jeon at eight-under after 36 holes by posting a 69 (-3) to go with her first-round 67 (-5). McCrary was able to push the lead to nine-under for most of her back nine in the second round, but a bogey on her last hole of the day would drop her back to eight-under for the tournament.
McCrary is coming off an injury that took her out for the 2022 season but has found her game this week in French Lick. The 27-year-old has found success in her career playing in several LPGA Tour events and having multiple top-10 finishes on the Epson Tour.
Laetitia Beck could not add to her six-under total from round one, but she did not lose any strokes either. The even par round kept Beck near the top of the leaderboard despite her not being able to get anything going in her second round.
