News and Notes: Rd.2 Cambia Portland Classic

Caroline Masson shot the round of the day, an 8-under 64, to climb from a tie for 35th into solo second at the Cambia Portland Classic.

“It was really solid, fun, and, yeah, I’m excited about that round,” Masson said with a smile.  “It was really stress free.”

Masson had the best season of her professional career in 2014 but thus far had been disappointed with her 2015 showing.

“It’s not been great,” Masson admitted. “I had a great year last year and played really well in Asia.  Kind of felt like we’re going in the right direction.  This year I felt like I was playing well, but, again, I didn’t really score well.  Whenever I had a chance to really have a good finish, I kind of screwed it up a little bit.  So I’m trying to do a little better on that on the weekend this week.”

The German is playing the next two weeks in search of a spot on the European Solheim Cup team which will be played in her home country September 18-20 at St. Leon Rot Golf Club.

“Solheim Cup in Germany, at home, obviously, it’s been on my mind a lot,” Masson explained. “It’s the only Solheim Cup probably that’s going to be in Germany while I’m playing. I still have a chance to qualify.  So I don’t feel like I’m in a bad spot, but obviously I was really pumped about these two weeks and really wanted to play well.  Luckily it’s two weeks that suit me, I think. So it’s a lot of pressure, but I was just trying to really take it easy.  If I play well, I think I’m going to be on that team, and if not, I don’t deserve it, so I just want to look at it that way.”

A pair of second year pros, Amy Anderson and Kim Kaufman find themselves on the first page of the leaderboard after the second round of the Cambia Portland Classic. 

“I was pretty peaceful and calm,” Anderson said of sleeping on the lead for the first time in her career. “It was Thursday, you know, and now it’s Friday.  It’s still early in the week, so I didn’t really think too much about being in the lead on the first day.  I was more focused on the things that I kind of wanted to work on in my swing, and I’m still going to be focused on that the rest of the way.”

Anderson is coming off the second top-10 of her career at the Meijer LPGA Classic, while Kaufman has four top-10s in her two seasons on Tour. 

“Last year was kind of different, I would go shoot really well on Sunday to finish well after not really being in it, and this year it kind of flip flopped, and I’ve got to learn to just play two more days here with it,” Kaufman explained. “But I do feel more comfortable, and I hope I can one of these weeks finish it out, and hopefully this week.”

The duo both have confidence in their games and will take aggressive approaches into the weekend as they look for their first win on the LPGA Tour. 

“You know, it’s the same as it always is.  I’m focusing on my stroke and my swing, and I know there’s a couple things I need to tweak on both of them, so I always focus on the process, and the results kind of take care of themselves,” Anderson said. “If I can straighten out my swing, I’ll be very pleased teeing it up tomorrow.”

“I’m just going to just keep doing the same thing, and for me I think I have to continue to be aggressive on my putts,” Kaufman said. “I start to get a little tentative times and I’m going to try to change that this week, because you’ve got to keep making putts.  You can’t go out there and protect your lead, and I’ll do that sometimes.  I’m going to keep playing on the offense, I think, so that’s kind of my goal.”

LPGA winner Julieta Granada finds herself just one-shot off the lead heading into the weekend of the Cambia Portland Classic. Granada, who captured the ADT Championship in 2006, followed up her opening round 66 with a 69 Friday to put her at 9-under for the tournament.

Granada shot 3-under par to move towards the top of the leaderboard as playing conditions made it tougher to go low later in the day.

“Today was a little bit more scrambling mode,” Granada said. “But I had some good birdies out there to keep the round going…It was a little tricky today with the wind. I think it would just get tougher (later in the day).  If it blows like this, the greens are going to firm up.  It’s tough to judge the yardages, so I’m happy to be done.”

Granada has had an up and down season, finishing in the top-20 seven times, but has not yet been able to close.

Following an off-week for the Tour, Granada feels refreshed.

“I mean, last week I was pretty exhausted,” Granada said. “I had played four in a row, so last week I just really took it easy, didn’t practice at all until Saturday, and I saw my coach, so we worked on a few things and then show up here and just keep doing that.”

The 36-hole cut fell at even-par 144. 82 players earning their spots to play on Sunday. Notables to miss the cut include: Paula Creamer (+1), Angela Stanford (+2), Chella Choi (+4), and Suzann Pettersen (+5).