Diaz maintains lead after second round of Marathon Classic
7/18/2014Laura Diaz maintained the lead at the conclusion of the second day of the LPGA Marathon Classic.
Diaz shot a 2-under-par 69 today at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, a day after scorching the par-71 course with a 62. Diaz finished the day with a birdie on the par-5 No. 18 hole.
"I’m very fortunate to be in this position,' said Diaz, who also led the tournament in 2002, 2003 and 2009. "A golf tournament isn’t won after 36 holes or 54 holes. In this situation it’s 72 holes, and there’s lots of golf to be played and lots of great players to go out and shoot lots of great scores. We all have 36 more opportunities to make 36 more birdies."
Diaz tees off at 1 p.m. Saturday on No. 1, with Lydia Ko. Diaz is three strokes ahead of Ko and Lee-Anne Pace, who are tied for second, each at 134 entering Saturday's third round.
"I had two solid rounds," said Ko, who shot a 67 Thursday and a 67 today. "I thought I played pretty solid today and yesterday. Hopefully I can continue that through the weekend."
Among the 77 LPGA players who made the cut for the third round of the Marathon Classic: 2012 Marathon Classic champion So Yeon Ryu (68-67), Stacy Lewis (70-70), the No.1 golfer in the Rolex Rankings; 2013 Marathon Classic champion Beatriz Recari (70-68) and Christina Kim (69-70).
“Today’s tee shot was pretty great, so I had a lot of great chances to make a great iron shot,” Ryu said. “I missed couple of birdie putts, but still, at the same time, I made a lot of long birdie putts."
Among those to miss the cut: U.S. Women's Open champion Michelle Wie (74-76) and Jacqui Concolino (77-75), who tied for fifth in the 2013 Marathon Classic.
The third round begins at 7:18 a.m. Saturday, as Amelia Lewis starts from No. 1.
PHOTO GALLERY: Click here for photos from Day 2
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