Min Lee’s late birdie gives her the lead after two rounds of Valley Forge Invitational
Lee, who fired a 64 on Friday, said she played a solid round. She will want to duplicate that on Sunday because 14 players behind her are within four strokes of the lead at Raven's Claw Golf Club.
It appeared as though no player in the Valley Forge Invitational would emerge from the pack as the second round neared its conclusion Saturday at Raven’s Claw Golf Club, but a birdie at the par-3 17th meant Min Lee will set the pace going into the final day.
Lee, the first-round co-leader, hit a 9-iron to 12 feet for the birdie and finished with a 3-under-par 68 and a 10-under total of 132, giving her a 1-stroke lead over four challengers in this Symetra Tour event.
When Sunday’s round begins, Lee, of Chinese Taipei, will have 14 golfers within four strokes. She has experience with winning, having won twice last year in Asia and picking up a Symetra Tour win in 2014, before playing 82 events the next four years on the LPGA Tour.
“I was 19 years and three months old,” Lee, who will celebrate her 24th birthday on Monday, said of her 2014 win. “I had a good year. It’s a good memory.”
The logjam in second place was headed by Demi Runas, who birdied seven of her first eight holes and didn’t birdie again until No. 18, when she sank a 20-foot putt for a 65 to get to 9-under 133. Jenny Coleman shot the low round of the day, a 64, for a share of second place with Krystal Quihuis (66) and Esther Lee (67).
Perrine Delacour was alone at 134 after a 68, one stroke ahead of Lauren Coughlin, Stephanie Na, and Yujeong Son.
Lee said she was more consistent in Saturday’s round. While she didn’t run off any five-hole streaks of birdies, as she did Friday, she was pleased.
“I had lots of birdie chances that I didn’t put in, but I’m not complaining about anything," she said. "I still played a solid round. My playing partners are very nice, so that helped me. It was a pretty relaxing two rounds and hopefully [Sunday] will be a good day.”
Runas, 27, of Torrance, Calif., joked that she “really didn’t know what was going on” during her birdie streak, where she made putts ranging from 3 to 25 feet.
“I got off to a really hot start and was just having some fun out there,” said Runas, who played mostly on the LPGA Tour between 2015 and 2017. “The back nine, I woke up a little bit, but any time you can make eight birdies in a round, I’ll take it.”
Coleman, who tied for fourth at last year’s inaugural Valley Forge Invitational, went without a bogey and carded four of her seven birdies on the back nine. She said she has good feelings about the course from 2018.
“You definitely bring in a little more confidence knowing that you played well and keep playing well out here,” she said. “It’s just one of those courses where you’re feeling it, so you can be a little more aggressive, give yourself a little more birdie chances.”
Around the course
After a birdie drought in her first round, Cheyenne Woods notched three for a 69 and 142 total. “I just have to keep giving myself opportunities,” said the niece of Tiger Woods.
Symetra Tour regular Brittany Benvenuto of Langhorne carded a 70 for a 139 total, and spent some time afterward practicing her putting. “It’s definitely putting,” she said. “There’s one more day. You never know if they’re going to start dropping in buckets” on Sunday.
Kellie Edelblut of New Hope was in the first group to finish the second round and then waited more than eight hours before discovering she hit the cut figure – 1-over 143 – on the number. She shot a 72. … Amateur Isabella DiLisio of Hatfield, a recent Notre Dame graduate who tied for 34th in this event last year, fired a 74 for 147 and missed the cut. Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Ashley Grier also did not advance following a 72 that left her at 148.
Alejandra Cangrego of Colombia had a hole-in-one at the 157-yard sixth hole. She hit a 6-iron. ... Because of the threat of stormy weather Sunday, the tournament will start the 69 remaining players off two tees.