Ledwein Leads Yoemans by One in a Battle at MGA Women's Amateur Championship

• 2021 MGA Women's Amateur Championship Round 3
• 2021 MGA Women's Amateur Championship Round 2
• 2021 MGA Women's Amateur Championship Round 1

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By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
 
 
  WACONIA, Minn. – Taylor Ledwein’s last individual state victory came in 2018 when she erased a two-stroke deficit to win the Minnesota Women’s Amateur Championship by four strokes at White Bear Yacht Club.
 
When the final round begins Wednesday at Island View Golf Club, Ledwein takes her turn as the one being chased at the Women’s Amateur Championship following her 2-under 70 for the second consecutive round to lead Sophia Yoemans by one stroke in search of her ninth state win.  
 
“I don’t think my game was as good as yesterday,” Ledwein said after her round in sweltering conditions Tuesday. “I made more birdies yesterday, but I made more bogeys today. I don’t feel like it was all clicking.
 
“I tried to grind. I birdied hole six—it’s a 106-yard par-3 and I had 31 yards to the flag. I chipped in and if it didn’t go in, it was going 30 yards off the green. Things like that and I just had a few bad swings on the bogeys.”
 
Ledwein, whose five top-10 finishes, including a win at the MGA Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, earned her a share of MGA Women’s Player of the Year honors with Kate Smith last season, traded a pair of birdies with two bogeys over her front nine Tuesday to remain even for the round and one back of Yoemans.
 
The former Bradley University golfer grabbed the outright lead at the 11^th by burying her birdie chance from 10 feet, while Yoemans couldn’t get up-and-down to save par from behind the 11^th green.
 
Ledwein would relinquish her lead following a bogey at the par-4 13^th, but would pull even after a Yoemans bogey at the 16^th. Ledwein bounced her approach at the 17^th off the flagstick, leaving a tap-in birdie, but Yoemans would roll in her birdie chance from 10 feet to keep pace.
 
Following a Yoemans bogey at the last, Ledwein two-putted for par to post a second straight round of 2-under 72, taking a one-stroke lead to the final round at 4-under 140.
 
“My game plans are really good. I don’t think anything I did today was because of that,” Ledwein said. “I just didn’t have great swings. I need to stick to what I want to do and not to let things going on around me change that. It’s been a mental grind.
 
“I’m driving the ball really well, not just with driver, but anything off the tee. I didn’t make a lot of putts today, but I’d definitely say my putting has been helping me this week.”
 
The last individual 18-hole lead Ledwein held heading into the final round of a championship came at last season’s Minnesota Women’s State Open, where Ledwein played her final six holes in 7-over par for a disappointing second-place finish to Kathryn VanArragon at The Jewel Golf Club.  
 
A round of 3-under 69 helped Yoemans to a one-stroke lead following the opening round Monday and she would start the scoring early Tuesday with a birdie at the first to move to 4-under.
 
Yoemans, who will begin her junior season at the University of Missouri, would turn in 3-under for the tournament after a bogey at the seventh, and fell out of the lead after her tee shot went long at the par-3 11^th.
 
Building momentum by getting up-and-down from the sand at the 12^th to save par, Yoemans carded back-to-back birdies at the 13^th and 14^th to recapture a one-stroke lead.
 
Rolling in a 10-footer to keep pace with Ledwein’s birdie at the 17^th before taking a bogey on the final hole to post an even par 72 to start the final round one shot back at 3-under 141.
 
“I hit the ball better on the front nine than I did yesterday,” Yoemans said Tuesday. “I just didn’t drop the putts, but made some good pars. Made some birdies and had a good bogey [on No. 11]. My putting was pretty good—even the putts I missed were good putts and had a chance to go in.
 
“I missed the green with a couple of my wedges; that was probably the biggest thing. The driver was better today and my irons were good. Just a few wedges that cost me on the par-3s. My putting has been really good this week. I like the speed of these greens and I’ve been working a lot on my putting this summer. It’s nice to see it paying off.”
 
With her last win coming at the 2019 MGA Mixed Amateur Team Championship, Yoemans will enter Wednesday’s final round with some unfinished business of her own. She was one of three players to finish second behind Ledwein at the 2018 MGA Women’s Amateur and finished six shots behind Kate Smith a year ago at Stillwater Country Club.
 
Opening the championship with a round of 73 Monday, Olivia Salonek fired a 2-over 74 Tuesday and will begin Wednesday’s final round seven shots off the lead at 147, while University of Minnesota golfer Leah Herzog will begin the final round in fourth place, eight shots back.
 
University of Wisconsin-Stout golfer Abbey Filipiak, who began the tournament with a round of 1-over 73 Monday, fired a 4-over 76 during the final round Tuesday to earn a 13-stroke victory over Ellie Breuer in the First Flight.
 
Molly Baker entered Tuesday’s final round with a five-stroke lead and carded a 11-over 83 to win the Second Flight by two strokes over Anna Lindemann at 164.  
 
The final round of the 2021 MGA Women’s Amateur Championship begins at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at Island View Golf Club.