Minnesota Clubhouse Leader Midway Through Second Round Of WST

Fort Wayne, Ind. – Minnesota posted a 9-over-par 153 team total to take the clubhouse lead by two strokes over Maryland midway through Wednesday’s second round of the USGA Women’s State Team Championship being conducted at Sycamore Hills Golf Club.

Minnesota, which won this biennial championship in 2001 at Woodhill Country Club in Wayzata, Minn., received a 4-over-par 76 from 49-year-old Leigh Klasse of St. Anthony and a 77 by 2009 Ferris State graduate Alison Mayer, 22, of Duluth for a 36-hole team total of 16-over 304 in the 3-count-2 format.

First-round leader Georgia, which shot a 1-under 143 in Tuesday’s first round, had an afternoon starting time along with second-place South Carolina (147).

Meyer rebounded nicely from an opening-round 86, going nine strokes lower. Klasse, a veteran of USGA events and a member of the victorious 2001 Minnesota team, also improved her first-round score by five strokes. Claudia Pilot, 50, of Austin, who shot a 2-under 70 for one of three sub-par scores in the first round, shot a 79.

The best round of the morning wave came from 17-year-old Kaitlyn Rohrback of Crofton, Md., who used an eagle-2 on the 13th hole to card an even-par 72. But Maryland, which opened with a 10-over 154, shot eight over par as a team.

At the 13th, Rohrback had 100 yards to the flagstick and hit a knockdown pitching wedge behind the hole and then saw the ball spin back down the slope.

“They all cheered and then I heard like an ‘Oh,’ [so] I thought it missed,” said Rohrback, who has verbally committed to attend the University of Tennessee in the fall of 2010. “Then when I got up there I couldn’t find the ball.”

Through nine holes on Wednesday, Maryland was sitting at even par with Rohrback two under and 29-year-old teammate Corrie Tayman of Bethesda at two over. But Rohrback shot two over on Sycamore Hills’ outward nine and Tayman wound up carding an 80, halting any momentum the team had at making a dent in Georgia’s lead.

“Georgia played great so I don’t know if we can catch up with them,” said Rohrback. “But I think we can make it into the top three.”

California sits one stroke back of Maryland at 19-over 307. Kathy Kurata, 48, of Pasadena paced her squad with a 2-over 74.

The 54-hole Women’s State Team Championship will conclude on Thursday.

Story written by USGA Digital Media staff writer David Shefter. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.