LPGA Qualifying Tournament: Mollie Fankhauser takes the lead in the third round

(This entry was originally posted in this blog on December 5, 2008 and the information is based on that time.)

In the third round of the ongoing LPGA Qualifying tournament, spectators watched the rise of Mollie Fankhauser, a former collegiate standout at Ohio State and winner of two tournaments on the Duramed Futures tour. Mollie finished the 18-hole legend course in 66 shots, which put her ahead of Shiho Oyama, Michelle Wie, and Stacy Lewis in terms of total storkes. At the end of the day, Mollie Fankhauser was in the first position (67-71-66), followed by Shiho Oyama (64-70-71), Michelle Wie (69-65-72), and Stacy Lewis (69-66-71). Mollie was very happy with her performance. She told reporters:

“Anytime you can go out and play some of your best golf against a lot of the up-and-coming best players in the world sounds good to me, so I’ll take it,”

In the third round, Wie and Oyama fought to get into the lead in the legends course. Stacy Lewis had a tough time yesterday. She had 12 straight pars. She finished the 18^th hole with a birdie.

Michelle Wie, the star of the tournament, was not so impressive. Out of the three players, she was the first to fall behind. In the second par-5, she hit a double-bogey. However, she got back with impressive birdies at the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th hole. Wie hit six straight pars. She made two bogeys and one double-bogey and made a par of 72.

Shiho Oyama, who won the 2006 Japanese LPGA Tour champion, enjoyed one stroke lead till the par-4 sixth hole. Her snap-hook landed the ball into the water had she made a double-bogey. She was not happy with her performance.

The first twenty players of the Qualifying tournament will earn full time playing status in the 2009 LPGA Tour.

Related articles:

USA Today

news-journalonline.com