by Dane Heverin
Australia has fallen three spots down the World Amateur Team Championships leaderboard to a share of ninth place after a tricky day at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche in Paris.
The Australians dropped two shots on Thursday to sit at even-par, nine shots behind leaders Sweden at the halfway mark of the tournament.
Kirsten Rudgeley produced the round of the day among the Australian trio with a consistent even-par showing that could have been more, but her birdie opportunities refused to drop.
The West Australian is now tied for 12th at one-under in the individual standings and she is well-placed to make up ground on leader Meja Ortengren of Sweden who is six-under par.
“I had one birdie and one bogey. It was pretty boring golf. I just hit the green and two putted. That was my day, all day. I’ll take it,” Rudgeley said.
“Le Golf National is different grass to here. Here in the afternoon it gets a bit slower and it’s tough to get used to. You have to adapt.”
Kelsey Bennett shot a two-over round of 74, which included three birdies, but a double bogey at the par-5 17th brought her earlier good work unstuck.
Bennett now shares 22nd place at one-over, while Maddison Hinson-Tolchard carded a four-over round for the second straight day.
The West Australian is keeping her hopes up that she can produce some quality golf in the coming days to impact the team leaderboard.
“Since I’ve had a rough start, I need to go out and just enjoy it now. Have a bit of fun and don’t put too much pressure on myself. I feel better after the range session this afternoon so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow,” she said.
“Every week (at college for Oklahoma State University) we’re playing as a team and you always want to help the team out in some sort of way. Hopefully I can put a score on the board in the next few days for Team Australia, but we’ll see how it goes and have a bit of fun.”
The Australians return to Le Golf National – the host venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games – for the third round.
Tee times AEST – Friday 26 August
7.55pm Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, Nicole Gal (Canada), Bobbi Brown (South Africa)
8.06pm Kelsey Bennett, Brooke Rivers (Canada), Caitlyn Macnab (South Africa)
8.17pm Kirsten Rudgeley, Lauren Kim (Canada), Kajal Mistry (South Africa)
Follow the individual scores here and the team scores here.
