Meanwhile, the defending champion, Annika Sörenstam, started to make a push. She had two birdies and seven pars on her front nine and then birdies on two of her first four holes on the back nine to reach 4-under.
The final holes of the day saw Lindley bogey two of her last three holes to finish at 1-under for the day, and Alfredsson birdie her final hole, No. 18.
After shooting 3-under 70 in the first two rounds, Alfredsson sits at 6-under and will take a one-shot lead over Lindley into the third round Saturday. She has the lead despite playing in no tournaments since the U.S. Senior Women’s Open last year. She said she has played a total of 10 rounds of golf in the last year.
Alfreddson, 57, of Sweden, has kept her edge by keeping her body strong. She said the key for her in the first two rounds was keeping the ball in the fairway.
“I’m not playing a lot, but I’m hitting balls,” she said. “But I think yoga and staying strong in the core makes you at least be able to move through the ball. We do pretty strong yoga, and the girls that we do it with, we maximize pretty much every time.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Sörenstam followed her first-round 73 with a 3-under 70. She sits alone in third place at 3-under for the tournament.
“I drove the ball better,” Sörenstam said. “I hit some really good drives, but still sprinkled in a few crappy shots. On this course sometimes, if you end up on the wrong side, it can be difficult. Missed a few short putts, but I would say overall I was in a much better mood. I had the rhythm, had some momentum. It was fun out there, and I was just trying to go out there and enjoy and not feel constant pressure in what I have to do. That’s why I played better.”
Green, the Ohio native from Somerset, shot a 3-over 76. She’s in fourth place at 2-under for the tournament. She birdied her first hole of the day, No. 1, but had no more birdies in the rest of the round and four bogies, including one on No. 18 that broke a string of six pars.
“I hit a lot of great shots today,” Green said. “The putter wasn’t as good as it was yesterday, but certainly I’m striking the ball well. I’m driving the ball well. I don’t see why I can’t move right up the leaderboard tomorrow.”
The golfers who teed off in the morning Thursday had later tee times on Friday and vice versa.
“I played really early in the morning (Thursday), and I felt the greens were a lot faster,” said Green, who started her round at 1 p.m. Friday. “Some of them felt sticky today just from the humidity. I guess I just missed the speed just a touch, but still they’re fast when you get above the hole, and they’re very slow going uphill. I feel like the game is there. It’s there for the taking. I just have to get out of my own way and let it happen.”
Lindley, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., turned 50, the cutoff age for the tournament, on June 1. She played college golf at Arizona, where she was a freshman roommate of Sörenstam, and made her LPGA Tour debut in 1995.
Lindley’s only career victory came in her 295th career tournament at the Corning Classic in 2008. That was her 14th year on the tour. She finished second at the Women’s PGA Championship in 1997 and tied for fifth at the U.S. Women’s Open in 1995. She ranks 129th in LPGA history with career earnings of $3,033,268.
“I did a lot of good things,” Lindley said. “I was a little disappointed with my finish. I hit just a couple of squirrely shots but otherwise played really solid and continued to roll my putts nicely. I just had some that just rolled over the edge.”
Alfreddson, is a seven-time LPGA Tour winner. She was the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1992. She was the runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Open in 1993 and 2008.
Two other golfers are under par. Catrin Nilsmark, of Sweden, shot 69 in the first round and 76 in the second and sits at 1-under 145. Jill McGill, of Dallas, also shot 1-under (74-71).
The top 50 scores plus ties made the cut. The cut line was plus-12, and 52 golfers shot that score or better. Seven golfers missed the cut by one shot, including Jane Geddes, who won the U.S. Women’s Open at NCR Country Club in 1986.
“It was just so great to be back,” Geddes said. “As the week went on, I had more and more memories.”
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