Based on the handicaps that determined first-round pairings, Emily Bouchard and Lori Frost probably were considered co-favorites in the Maine Women’s Amateur golf championship.
Scores started to follow form Tuesday on the second day of the 54-hole tournament at Brunswick Golf Club.
Bouchard and Frost shared the low round of the tournament, each shooting 77 and leaving defending champion Bouchard with a two-stroke lead.
The two-day totals of 157 (Bouchard) and 159 (Frost) represent some separation after an opening day that saw nearly 20 players lurk within five shots of the lead.
Now, five back is only good for third place. Monica Austin, soon to be a senior at Yarmouth High School, stands alone there at 162.
Leslie Guenther of Norway (163) and Kris Kannegieser of Minot (164) are fourth and fifth.
Bailey Plourde, a 13-year-old from Newcastle, is sixth at 165. Guenther and Plourde each shot 83 Tuesday. Kannegieser wound up at 85.
Other local players of note include Melissa Johnson of Auburn, in a tie for seventh at 166, and Prudence Hornberger of Turner, 15th at 170.
Bouchard didn’t register a single birdie on her way to first-round 80.
As was the case a year ago, when she rallied from an 11-shot deficit after the opening day, Bouchard picked up the pace. She produced red numbers at the fifth, ninth and 16th holes.
Only a double-bogey on the finishing hole — one that had proven birdie-friendly to many of the top players a day earlier — prevented Bouchard from enjoying an even larger lead.
Frost, a multi-time WMSGA champion from Calais and playing out of Bangor Municipal, produced 15 pars in her steady round.
Austin recovered from a triple-bogey on the first hole to shoot 7-over 81.
The lead group of Bouchard, Frost and Austin will tee off at 12:10 p.m. Wednesday.
koakes@sunjournal.com
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