Julia Potter-Bobb of Indianapolis, Ind. finds herself in a familiar spot atop the leaderboard at the IWGA State Amateur Championship. Potter-Bobb has won the event four times in her career. (’07,’08,’14,’15)
In the first round, she fired a 3-under-par, 69 to take the lead by one over Kayla Benge at Hillview Country Club in Franklin. Potter-Bobb played the par fives in four under par in the first round including a hole out from 54 yards on the par-5 2nd for an eagle.
“I hit it well and it took one bounce and went in and I thought to myself, well I’ll take that for the second hole of the day,” Potter-Bobb said.
To capture her fifth Women’s Amateur Championship, Potter-Bobb believes she will need to play three rounds under par against a strong field.
“There’s a lot of great talent out here, and there are two other great scores today and that speaks volume about the game and what all the women are bringing this week,” Potter-Bobb said.
Potter-Bobb holds a one shot lead over Kayla Benge of Plainfield, Ind. Benge carded three birdies and one bogey on the day to shoot 2-under-par, 70 in the first round. She credits her ability to save par on multiple occasions as the main reason for her first round success.
“I struggled with my driver today and it was really key that I made my par putts,” Benge said. “But overall I feel as if I played a really solid round.”
It was a long par putt on the par-4 12th that gave her confidence for the final stretch of holes. After her approach shot from the fairway bunker left her 30 yards short of the green, Benge pitched to about 25 feet. From there she would make the putt to remain at 1-under-par on the day.
“I was headed down a road of where I could have shot two-over or two-under,” Benge said. “Making that par putt gave me the confidence I needed to keep my short game sharp.”
Katelyn Le of Evansville, Ind. was the only other player to shoot under par on the day as she shot a one-under-par 71.
Tee times will begin tomorrow starting at 8:00 A.M. off of holes one and ten.
For complete field results click here.
