WILMINGTON, Del. -Sarah Lydic is ready for it.
A victory in the BMW GAP Women’s Championship at Wilmington Country Club is well within her grasp. It would be a large exhale in a year weighted with bated breath. The 19-year-old from Bear Trap Dunes Golf Club battled oppressive heat with real feel temperatures in the triple digits to build an eight-shot lead with 18 holes remaining. Lydic opened with a 71 in the morning round on the North Course (par 71, 5,983 yards) before scorching the South Course (par 71, 6,157 yards) to a 3-under 68.
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Meredith Finger of DuPont Country Club is in second place at 5 over.
The final round begins at 8 a.m. tomorrow on the South Course. The leaders start at 9:12 a.m.
“Before college, I kind of just hit the ball around. And I was good at hitting the ball around,” said Lydic, a rising sophomore at Wake Forest University. “Learning from everybody else around me [at college] is what’s helped a lot. I really picked targets off the tee and made sure that I plotted [my strategy] around the course. I’m focused more on where to hit the drive and where I want to be on the green and having a good angle to come into the green.”
Lydic’s last nine months have been uneven. A proverbial rollercoaster of lows and highs. Right wrist surgery to remove a ganglion cyst grounded her last November. She got back to swinging in January but could never find any momentum on the golf course in Winston-Salem, N.C.
In the end-of-season ACC Championship, though, Lydic got her chance. She played in the final two rounds of stroke-play qualifying before helping her team in the match-play draw reach the final. Lydic won a match in the semifinals, 8&6. Lydic accompanied the team to the NCAAs but didn’t get to tee it up.
Earlier in the summer the pendulum trundled backward. Her swing left. A medication prescription clouded her golfing acumen. She failed to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
There is no looking back for Lydic. “It is what it is,” she said.
What it is now is pretty good.
She’s gained some strength and trust in the wrist; increased her swing speed from 86 to now 93 miles per hour and changed her putter. Lydic’s eliminated the medication. Her game is clear and peculating. This past weekend she finished second in the 10th Annual – Under Armor 54 Hole Amateur National Championship in Ocean City, Md. The field was a mixed event. She finished at 5 under.
Lydic’s familiarity with Wilmington was minimal (she’s only played the front nine of the north course). Her approach to the tournament is surprisingly relaxed.
“For me it’s better that way sometimes because I had no expectations,” said Lydic, of Ocean Views, Del., about a lack of Wilmington experience. “But right now I feet great. I’m excited about tomorrow.”
Lydic, competing in her first BMW GAP Women’s Championship negotiated the North Course to a level-par 71 despite a balky 7-wood, something she noted as a club of choice. A quick range session stop for her driver between rounds – she said she needed to tweak it – followed. A fixed driver, strong short game and agreeing putter resulted in the best score of the day on either course, a 3-under 68 on the Championship South Course.
Lydic birdied No. 3 (par 5, 430 yards) on a clean front nine. She dropped a six-footer after finding the green in two with a 4-wood from 194 yards. On No. 11 (par 4, 328 yards), Lydic drained an 11-footer to push to 2 under. A short par miss on No. 13 (par 3, 164 yards) blemished the scorecard, before Lydic registered three birdies in a row from Nos. 14 to 16. Her shortest putt in that trio was a 16-footer on No. 14 (par 5, 480 yards). The other two putts measured 20 feet. Lydic did three-putt from 60-feet on No.18 (par, 4, 350 yards) to close the round.
A spectacular close to her summer schedule is on tap.
“If it happens, it happens. I’m just going to have fun and enjoy the day,” Lydic said.
A trophy ceremony lurks in the future.
NOTES–The BMW GAP Women’s Championship expanded from an 18-hole event to a 54-hole event to comply with World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) eligibility standards.
GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 130,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
| Results | |
| Name, club | R1–R2 — Total |
| Sarah Lydic, Bear Trap Dunes Golf Club | 71–68 — 139 |
| Meredith Finger, DuPont Country Club | 69–78 — 147 |
| Rhianna Gooneratne, The 1912 Club | 71–77 — 148 |
| Sawyer Brockstedt, Kings Creek Country Club | 75–74 — 149 |
| Jackie Rogowicz, Merion Golf Club | 75–75 — 150 |
| Reagan Garnsey, Wild Quail Golf & Country Club | 76–76 — 152 |
| Nicole Yun, Spring Ford Country Club | 72–80 — 152 |
| Clare Gimpel, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club | 73–80 — 153 |
| Morgan Kunze, Spring Ford Country Club | 76–77 — 153 |
| Marissa Malosh, White Clay Creek Country Club | 73–81 — 154 |
| Kiersten Bodge, Overbrook Golf Club | 77–77 — 154 |
| Caroline Tragesser, Makefield Highlands Golf Club | 75–80 — 155 |
| Isabella Dilisio, Philadelphia Cricket Club | 75–80 — 155 |
| Danielle Higbee, DuPont Country Club | 74–82 — 156 |
| Elle Overly, Bent Creek Country Club | 81–75 — 156 |
| Anna Kittelson, Lancaster Country Club | 76–81 — 157 |
| Taylor Oberparleiter, USGA/GAP GC | 80–78 — 158 |
| Lauren Klick, DuPont Country Club | 81–79 — 160 |
| Katherine Liu, GAP Youth on Course | 74–88 — 162 |
| Danielle Howey, Meadia Heights Golf Club | 81–83 — 164 |
| Failed to qualify | |
| Emily Rensch, Chambersburg Country Club | 78–87 — 165 |
| Barbora Millichip, Honeybrook Golf Club | 80–85 — 165 |
| Monica Anne Pedano, The Springhaven Club | 82–83 — 165 |
| Olivia Strigh, Scotland Run Golf Club | 84–81 — 165 |
| Nicoll Keeney, Wilmington Country Club | 83–83 — 166 |
| Allie Robertson, RiverCrest GC & Preserve | 84–83 — 167 |
| Kayla Maletto, Manor Golf Club | 84–84 — 168 |
| Kylie Yiengst, Wild Quail Golf & Country Club | 85–86 — 171 |
| Grace Battista, LuLu Country Club | 84–87 — 171 |
| Kirsten Vanderhorst, USGA/GAP GC | 86–85 — 171 |
| Sophia DeSantis, Concord Country Club | 86–85 — 171 |
| Meghan Adams, Wilmington Country Club | 83–89 — 172 |
| Ryleigh Faust, Bucknell Golf Club | 85–87 — 172 |
| Madison Osler, USGA/GAP GC | 76–96 — 172 |
| Amanda Portoff, Moselem Springs Golf Club | 83–90 — 173 |
| Cierra Griffith, Bellewood Country Club | 87–87 — 174 |
| Margaux Solis, USGA/GAP GC | 89–86 — 175 |
| Kaydee Beckenbaugh, Chambersburg Country Club | 84–93 — 177 |
| Grace Sanborn, Northampton Country Club | 90–88 — 178 |
| Angie Whitley Coleman, DuPont Country Club | 85–93 — 178 |
| Malaina Druffner, Applecross Country Club | 91–89 — 180 |
| Emilee Barkley, Moselem Springs Golf Club | 89–92 — 181 |
| Sarah Harvey, Llanerch Country Club | 80–102 — 182 |
| Eleanor Good, Gulph Mills Golf Club | 89–94 — 183 |
| Arlene Zamora, Chesapeake Bay Golf Club | 92–92 — 184 |
| Roxane Hoffmann, Running Deer Golf Club | 101–87 — 188 |
| Jacqueline O’Connell, Woodstone Country Club and Lodge | 89–101 — 190 |
