MSU golfer one shot off the lead of the Michigan Women's Open Several within one shot of the lead

Milena Savich follows through after missing her first 5 greens

THOMPSONVILLE – Milena Savich of Carmel, Ind., missed the first five greens in her second round of the Michigan PGA Women’s Open at Crystal Mountain Resort Tuesday.

 But she didn’t go missing from the top of the leader board.

 “I held it together,” she said after an even-par round of 72 on the Mountain Ridge course kept her at 4-under-par 140, and one shot ahead of Inhong Lim of Beavercreek, Ohio, who shot 71 for 141. “It easily could have been 75 or something.”

   Those two will be in the final group for the final round of the $40,000 tournament Wednesday. They will tee off at 10:06 a.m.

   Five golfers at 142 and six more at 144 will be giving chase.

   Michigan State University golfer Christine Meier of Rochester Hills is among the five at 142 after shooting a second consecutive 71. She is the low amateur in the field.



Christine Meijer is one of five players one shot back

   Also at 142 are professionals Brittany Bomar of Anchorage, Alaska, who shot 70, Rachel Schmidt of Elk River, Minn., who shot 73, and Ashely Tait of Littleton, Colo., and Erica Popson of Davenport, Fla., who each shot 69.

  The six golfers at 144, four shots off the lead, include professional Elise Swartout of Ann Arbor, a former Western Michigan University golfer who shot 71, and Kimberly Dinh, an amateur from Midland, who shot 72.

   The others at 144 are Corie Hou of Sydney, Australia, Becca Huffer, a former Notre Dame golfer from Denver, Colo., Kristin Walla of Aspen, Colo., and Natalie Gleadall of Stratford, Ontario.

   Savich, 23 and a former University of Georgia golfer with one professional win (Suncoast Ladies Tour), said she is excited about being in the lead heading into the final round. She said the last time she played in a final group she won the 2010 Indiana State Amateur Championship.

  “I’m excited for the opportunity to get to do what I love,” she said.

   Savich, who played her first year of college golf at the University of Michigan before a transfer, said she held the lead for a second consecutive round because she stayed patient.

  “I didn’t hit the ball as well, but every time I made bogey, I came back with a birdie,” she said. “I also made a long snake from above the hole on 14. It was like 30 feet and one out of a hundred of those go in. That helped out. It was a struggle, but I’m in the last group and that’s great.”

   Lim, a 23-year-old native of Korea who went to high school in Melbourne, Australia, and ended up at Ohio State University, said being in the final group is a first-time thing for her as a professional.

  “I will just try to stay in the moment on concentrate on each shot,” she said. “I am going to just focus on my game because I can’t do anything about what the other players do.”

Inhong Lim of Beavercreek, Ohio, who is running second, hits
out of a bunker on the 10th hole

   Bomar, the 25-year-old daughter of golf professional Billy Bomar, left Alaska to play college golf at the University of Hawaii. She said she has never been in the last few groups in a professional tournament, and was elated to see her name on leaderboards in the second round.

   “I’m just trying to stay calm,” she said. “Seeing your name up the first time makes you a little nervous.”

  She turned heads in her round because she putts side-saddle just like her father.

   “That’s the way he putted so that’s the way I learned,” she said. “We have a short golf season in Alaska, but I was born to be pro, and born to putt goofy.”