The Competition Heats Up: FPO Round 2

By Jerry Roth

For the second round of the Ledgestone Insurance Open presented by Discraft the temperature dropped and the winds blew even harder than the day before. The day began with Jessica Weese out in front with a mere one stroke lead over four-time World Champion Valarie Jenkins. Not far behind Jessica was the young, and talented Ragna Bygde, and the always determined Paige Pierce, ready to strike. Could Jessica hold off the World Champion during round two?

Ragna Bygde

Although the scoring was generally down from day one, Ragna had a particularly rough start giving up several bogeys before finding her stride. Regrettably, she couldn’t capitalize on her birdie chances to equalize her bogey woes. Ragna spent the day scrambling for par and spinning her wheels. There is no doubt that the weather also played a factor as the winds began to alter the pro’s shot selection and strategies. Either way, Ragna didn’t gain much ground on the leaders but there is still so much more disc golf left in the week.

Paige Pierce

If there is a competitor this year that has her game dialed-in it would be Paige Pierce. She is getting more and more comfortable with her plastic and it is evident in her scores. But, the scores alone don’t tell the tale as she isn’t playing conservatively the first two rounds, only playing smart. Aside from the first two holes during round two, Paige has executed a masterful strategy to keep the high numbers off of her card. She has played long enough to know that you take what the course, or weather, is giving you. Her round may not look like much but she has kept herself in contention and she knows that anything can happen during round three.

Jessica Weese

Jessica Weese began her second round with a birdie on hole 1. Grabbing a good score right away is usually a sure way to settle the nerves and get into a tempo. Unfortunately Jessica followed her birdie with a double bogey immediately after on hole 2. She repeated this trend again on hole 6 adding a bogey this time before finally finding her groove of pars and birdies. With not much separation from her and Valarie, Jessica had to play smart in order to keep her lead going into day three.

Valarie Jenkins

Valarie Jenkins has been in the position of chasing many times throughout her career. She has made a living out of coming from behind to snatch a victory from an opponent. She didn’t really play a fancy round most of the day and after an unfortunate bogey on the first hole, Val found her composure, took what the course gave her, and with a long string of pars stayed in contention. She remained right behind Jessica most of the day, keeping her competitor clearly within her sites.

The battle at the top of the leader board was exciting to witness as Val and Jessica slugged it out all the way through the second round. Valarie’s patience paid off as she finally took the lead on the last hole and threw the hot round of the day with a -4 giving her a -11 so far for the tournament and the outright lead. Edged out by one stroke, Jessica Weese stood her ground ending her day with a very decent score of -2 and -10 for the tournament. Although she is in second place, one lone stroke separates the two ladies with half the tournament left to play. Paige Pierce gave it her all today, and managed to play under par golf in the process. Paige finished the day with a -3, securing Third place. Rounding out the fourth spot was Ragna Bygde who with determination, finished with a -3 and giving her a share of third place with Paige Pierce. Who to watch on day three? Catrina Allen jumped up six places to tie with Sarah Hokom and Jennifer Allen.

The lead card for day three at the Ledgestone Insurance Open presented by Discraft will feature Valarie Jenkins (-11), Jessica Weese (-10), Paige Pierce (-3), and Ragna Bygde (-3). The spots are close and the competition will be even closer as round three begins. As always check out Lisopen.com for more information and daily recaps.