Drane carries narrow lead into final round
MONCTON - There is no give, as in give-up, crack, let-go, or fold in Angela Drane, Kristi Vienneau or Morgan Bell.
Grouped in the same threesome for the second day in a row, they proved it again Friday, hitting shot-for-shot and rebounding from a poor hole with a great hole in the second round of the Royale New Brunswick women's amateur, senior and super-senior golf championship at the challenging Country Meadows Golf Club.
When the dust settled, just before a light rain began to fall, Drane, a Grandview, P.E.I. native gunning for a three-peat as champion, recorded an even-par 72 score and grabbed the 36-hole lead in the 54-hole championship.
After posting a 73 in the first round, she is 1-over-par 145.
Vienneau, who held the lead after 18 holes with a 2-under-par 70, was 76 in Round 2 and at 2-over 146 trails Drane by one stroke heading into today's final round.
Vienneau, a former three-time N.B. junior champion and 2005 amateur champion while living in Bathurst, now plays out of the Fredericton Golf Club.
Bell, who plays out of the Belvedere Golf Club in Charlottetown, was 74 in Round 2 and trails Drane by four strokes and Vienneau by three.
Drane, Vienneau and Bell will form a threesome again today, going out at 1 p.m. and it's expected to be one of the best ever showdowns in the history of the championship.
"I expect it's going to go to the very final hole," said Drane, who confessed to being mentally spent after signing her name to an even-par scorecard.
"It was a special kind of day out there and we know it's going to be the same tomorrow (today).
"We're all keen competitors who enjoy playing together. I think you can see that but we're not going to give each other the tournament. I feel it's going to go right until the very last hole."
Without question, Drane, a junior at the University of Louisiana at Munroe, is the most consistent striker of the ball.
She hit 16 greens in the second round while Bell, who just graduated from the University of Montevallo in Alabama, hit 15, and Vienneau 11.
Drane went out in 2-over-par 38 and came home in 2-under 34. She was nine-for-nine in greens in regulation on the back nine and recorded birdies on holes 10 (par 3) and 12 (par 4).
Like she did on Thursday, Drane once again struggled with her putter.
"Geez. . .I'd like to make a few," she muttered of several missed birdie attempts.
Then, she offered a solution: "If I can't make them, then I have to hit my wedge shots better. It's all me. The opportunities are there but I'm not cashing in."
Vienneau had an up-and-down round. She had five birdies but erased those special efforts with a pair of double-bogeys and a pair of three-putts for bogey.
Vienneau was 2-over-par 38 on both the outward and inward nines.
"I'm a little frustrated but I'm not disappointed because I rallied back from poor shots with a lot of great shots," she said.
"I'm still in it. If you said before it started I would be 70-76 in the first two rounds I would have said okay 'that's not too bad and it isn't.'''
A real estate agent, one hole that Vienneau would like to purchase property on at Country Meadows would be No. 13. In round 1 she hit a six-iron into the hole for an eagle 2 and yesterday she dropped a 30-foot putt from off the green for a birdie 3.
Just after she made the 30-footer, Bell stepped up and drained a 25-footer for another birdie.
Drane was only 12 feet away and said, "Geez. . .I can't beat you guys." Her birdie try came up inches short.
While Drane. Vienneau and Bell are setting a quick pace, Margo McLeod of the Covered Bride Golf Club at Hartland, Leanne Richardson of the host club and Debi Decoste of the Granite Springs Golf Club at Halifax are tied for fourth with 155 totals. McLeod was 75 yesterday after opening with a 80. Richardson has games of 77-78 and Decoste 79-76.
Meanwhile, one player wearing a huge smile was Monique Taylor of the Moncton Golf and Country Club.
She aced the 158-yard, par 3, 10th hole with a 4-iron and recorded a score of 84. It was the fourth hole-in-one of her career and the second at the ladies provincials.
Taylor is fourth in the senior ladies championship.
Kathy Grebenc of Bathurst is the leader at 154 on games of 75-79.
Catherine Burgess of the Riverside Country Club is second (78-80) and Penny Dickeson of Fredericton is third on a pair of 80 scores.
Marlene Steeves of Kingswood has a lock on the super-senior crown with games of 79-82.
Marie Anne Leger of Country Meadows is second with rounds of 82-92.
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