Leading Through Two – Stanford Cardinal

STANFORD, Calif. — Things got a little bit tighter for third-ranked Stanford women’s golf after the second round of the Stanford Intercollegiate, hosted by Dr. Condoleezza Rice. After switching to the morning tee time, the Cardinal found the course a bit tougher, with winds picking up compared to Friday’s calm afternoon. Still, Stanford finds itself with a four-stroke lead over USC heading into Sunday’s final round.

Stanford shot a 2-over 286 as a team on Saturday to get to 9-under for the tournament through two rounds. The gap shrunk between the Cardinal and the Trojans as USC shot a 1-under 283 to cut the lead down to just four strokes, making it an open competition heading into the final round. Texas sits six strokes behind USC in third while Virginia and Arizona State are tied for fourth one stroke behind Texas.

The best round of the day by the Cardinal came from one of their individuals. Leigh Chien posted the best round of the entire field with a 5-under 66, a new career-low for the freshman out of Irvine. It was her first clean round of the season, with five birdies and zero bogeys. That put Chien on a rocket up the leaderboard, going from a tie for 29^th all the way into a tie for fourth and just two strokes back of the individual lead.

Two other Cardinal find themselves in a tie with Chien in fourth: Megha Ganne and Meja Ortengren. Ganne, the round one leader, dropped down a few spots with a 1-over 72 on Saturday. It seemed like a repeat of yesterday early on for Ganne, who birdied twice on the first seven holes, but she would not find any more circles on the scorecard on the back nine. Ortengren moved up the leaderboard with a strong 3-under 68 thanks to a hot back nine. She birdied four times from holes 12-16 to close out her day and recorded her first eagle on hole 7. They join Chien with a chance to win on Sunday afternoon.

Another pair of Stanford golfers find themselves in a tie for ninth and four strokes off the lead. Paula Martin Sampedro drops a few spots overall but is still in contention after her 1-over 73 while Nora Sundberg, competing as an individual, shot even at part with a 71.

Vivian Lu of Washington is the clubhouse leader through 36 holes, sitting at 6-under. Beth Coulter of Arizona State and Jasmine Koo of USC are tied for second at 5-under and then five players share a tie of fourth, including Ganne, Ortengren, and Chien.

Stanford and the entire field are once again supporting the PlayForHer campaign. This year’s…