JENNY GLEASON LEADS BY 3 AT SYMETRA TOUR EVENT

NEWS RELEASE

Nine-year tour veteran Jenny Gleason followed up her first-round 69 with a 4-under par 68 to take a three-shot lead at the Northeast Delta Dental International. 

Gleason carded six birdies on the day and two bogeys on Nos. 1 and 10. The Clearwater, Fla. native caught a hot streak toward the end of her round and was four under in the last seven holes of the day. When asked what was the difference toward the back end, Gleason was puzzled.

“I have no idea,” Gleason said through a laugh. “I’m just trying to hit one golf shot at a time. I’ve been working on some things and it’s starting to click. I made some swing changes and everything feels good. I drove it a little bit better today. I hit all 14 fairways so I’m happy with that.”

In addition to some beneficial modifications, Gleason said her experience on the course has been an advantage.

“This is not my first time playing the Beav,” said Gleason. “I’ve been out here long enough to know where to hit it, where not to hit it. There are some sloping greens out there.”

Gleason’s rookie season was in 2004 and played in tournament when it was previously named Laconia Savings Bank FUTURES Golf Classic and was held at Canterbury Woods Country Club.

“I I’ve only missed it once for a wedding, so you do the math, said Gleason. “I’ve had great housing here. I couldn’t ask for more. The Ackersons, they’re the best.”

ON LPGA TOUR

Gleason has spent most of her season on the LPGA Tour, making six starts and making four cuts, and tries to take her experiences from the highest level to wherever she may be playing any given week. Gleason is coming off an appearance at the U.S. Women’s Open Championship which was held at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin which has a reputation for giving players fits.

“Continuing to improve your game is what it all boils down to. The golf ball doesn’t know where it is. I had a nice conversation with my swing coach and he was like ‘the ball doesn’t know what it’s flying over. It doesn’t know it’s in Concord, New Hampshire or Kohler, Wisconsin. It’s just about simplifying things and trying to hit you numbers and good golf shots.”

A group of four including Alice H. Kim, Nicole Smith, Esther Choe and Sarah Brown sit three shots off the lead at -4. Kim and Brown both shot rounds of 5-under 67 to jump from T33 to T2.

Still in the hunt: Nicole Smith admitted to seeing her lead slip away after holding a two-shot lead heading into Saturday’s second round. She said she had some frustration, especially making the turn at +2 and having three bogeys on her card. But Smith showed off some mental strength as she approached No. 16 and 3-over par for the day. She went on to birdie both 16 and 18 to keep her in close contention heading into Sunday’s final round.

“Those are huge,” said Smith of her final two birdies. “You look at the scoreboard and your name is slowly falling so it’s nice to come in a bounce it up there a little bit and know you’re in one of the final groups and playing with people that will be making a lot of birdies. It’s a lot easier to make them when you see people doing it.”

No. 1 in the mix: Esther Choe finds herself in familiar territory as she’s in the hunt once again heading into Sunday’s final round. Choe, back from playing in Europe on the LET for two months, put together a bogey-free front nine with four birdies and added another on No. 13. Her only two hiccups on the day came on 11 and 16 where she said her putter cooled off a bit.

“My two bogeys came from two three putts,” said Choe.”Just silly mistakes and I shouldn’t have three putted but it happens.”

IN COMMAND

Choe felt in command of her game throughout the entire round and was pleased with the way she opened the door to score some low numbers.

“I was off to a good start, I was four under through the front and I was just hitting it better,” said Choe. “I was hitting lots of greens. I hit 17 greens today so I was giving myself a lot of opportunities.”

Choe has been working on building a pressure-free environment when she plays now, something she said was hard to do early in her career with such lofty expectations coming out as the top junior player in the world.

“I’m still coming out here and just having fun and trying to enjoy everything,” said Choe. “I just look at each tournament as a chance to play good golf and do well.”

Even after a two-month hiatus, Choe’s two wins held her up on the leaderboard of the money list rankings. She admitted she was quite surprised to return to the top ranking and is obviously happy with the current situation she came back to.

“It feels good,” said Choe of retaining her No. 1 ranking. “It has shocked me. I thought for sure I’d be passed by now but it hasn’t happened and it’s going my way.”

Breath in, breath out: Sarah Brown had plenty to be excited about during her round on Saturday as she put together a bogey-free round of 5-under 67 and said a lot of her success was due to some control on her breathing tendencies.

“I wanted to make sure I was keeping myself calm. I was concentrating on my breathing today. After I would get an adrenaline rush I would stand behind my shot and take a nice deep breath and close my eyes and calm myself down. I didn’t let my mind wander to anything that would make me scared.”

Brown said getting off to a hot start has led her to some challenges in a round and that she has worked on playing the right kind of defense instead of a timid approach. 

“I try to keep myself calm because what usually happens is that I get off to a good start with some birdies and then I get scared,” said Brown. “Then I go on defense which I guess is not always a bad thing but it’s how you do it and I usually do it the wrong way. I end up getting scared and screw up.”

Brown, who is currently ranked No. 25 in the Volvik Race for the Card has had some up and downs this season but feels she is right on the edge of something big. 

FRUSTRATING

“It hasn’t been a bad year but it’s been frustrating,” said Brown. “I’ve had two top 10’s but also two missed cuts. So that throws a little frustration ball into my face because it’s been sporadic. Asking yourself ‘how can I do so good and then do so bad?’ I’m hoping the second half of the season I can concentrate on what helped me today which was just staying calm and having fun. When I do that I feel like everything falls into place.”

Heading into Sunday just three shots off the lead may be the scenario she has been waiting for her entire three-year career.

“I just want to get that first win so bad,” said Brown. “I know I’m right there. I just need to believe that I will get there. I need to be ok with coming close because when I get so close I get frustrated that I didn’t do. I need to be ok with coming close and still succeeding. If I have another runner up or top 10 I have to be ok with that because I’ll know that my game is good enough that it will happen.”

Volvik check-in: Players in the Volvik Race for the Card did not fare particularly well as a group through the first two rounds at Beaver Meadow. Only two out of the eight players in action this week will be going on to Sunday’s final round. No. 1 Esther Choe is in prime position to add onto her Tour-leading $33,750. No. 5 Victoria Elizabeth followed up a first-round 77 with a 2-under 70 on Saturday and jumped from T104 to T41.

Six of top-10 players in the field this week will not be in contention on Sunday after they missed the cut this week at Beaver Meadow Golf Course. Megan McChrystal, Lauren Doughtie, Kristie Smith, Sara Maude Juneau, Mi Hyang Lee and Jean Chua will not be adding onto their earnings this week. 

They finished as follows: No. 3 McChrystal (+6, 74-76), No. 7 Doughtie (+6, 73-77), No. 8 Smith (+6, 72-78), No. 10 Juneau (+8, 74-78), No. 9 Lee (+9, 75-77), No. 4 Chua (+12, 78-78),

Might as well jump: In addition to Kim and Brown, Paz Echevarria shared the low round of the day after she shot a 5-under 67. She started the day at T119 and currently sits at T21.

See you on Sunday: A total of 71 players made the cut which fell at 5-over par 149.

Of Note…Three LPGA exempt players in the field this week made the cut but didn’t score low on Saturday. Kris Tamulis shot a 2-over 74 and currently sits T21 after dropping from T11. Former Player of the Year Kathleen Ekey finished with a 5-over 77 and will head into Sunday at T49. Rebecca Lee-Bentham just made the cut at 5-over par and shot a one over par 73 in the second round. Local amateur Tara Watt, the only New Hampshire representative in the field this week, missed the cut after rounds of 84-91.