Maine Women's Amateur: Laplume leads Plourde by one entering final round

Jordan Laplume, of Dunegrass Golf Club, plays during the Maine Women’s Amateur on Tuesday at the Rockland Golf Club. (Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Photo)

ROCKLAND — After she sank a three-foot putt to birdie the 12th hole Tuesday afternoon, Jordan Laplume turned to her father and caddie, George Laplume, and smiled. Laplume, 17, had just made personal golf history.

“I said ‘I’ve never had back-to-back birdies.’ In my life,” Laplume said. “That was the first time ever, so that was super exciting. I was really hyped up about that.”

At the time, the back-to-back birdies on holes 11 and 12 gave Laplume a three-stroke lead over Bailey Plourde in the Maine Women’s Amateur championship. Three Laplume bogeys over the final five holes tightened the match, and Laplume, a recent Thornton Academy graduate, will enter Wednesday’s final round at Rockland Golf Club at 7-over, one stroke ahead of the 18-year-old Plourde. They’ll be joined in the final group by 13-year-old Ruby Haylock of Hartford, who sits five shots off the lead at 12-over, and will tee off at 10:50 a.m.

“I don’t think I played the best. I played much better on the front,” Laplume said. “I scored the same (as Monday’s first round), but I hit the ball a little bit better.”

Laplume and Plourde began the day tied at 3-over and remained tied through nine holes. Plourde’s par putt on seven lipped the cup and stayed out, and she also missed a par putt on eight. Struggles on the green were the story of Plourde’s round.

“I couldn’t find the speed of the greens. I couldn’t make any putts. It was tough. I felt like I was hitting the ball OK. Some drives got away from me, but the putting was a struggle,” Plourde said.

Laplume took the lead when Plourde bogeyed hole 10. With her birdies on 11 and 12, Laplume increased her lead to three strokes over Plourde.

Laplume bogeyed 14 to give back a stroke, and ran into her toughest hole on 15. At 524 yards, the par-5 15th is the longest hole on the course.

Laplume pulled her shot well left of the fairway, almost landing on the cart path separating hole 15 from 14. She chipped onto the fairway, then Laplume’s third shot was a hard ground ball to approach the green. Laplume salvaged bogey and, with Plourde’s putting woes continuing, maintained her two-shot lead.

“I had one of my worst swings of the day, definitely. But I lucked out. I stayed short of the hazard, and I just wanted to play it safe,” Laplume said. “I didn’t want to do anything stupid. I just wanted to get up and down and make no worse than a bogey. I wanted to avoid double.”

Plourde cut Laplume’s lead to one stroke with a par on No. 18, but she missed a great chance to tie the match when her 20-foot birdie putt was inches short.

“The putt on the last hole, I left that a couple inches short. That was kind of my day,” Plourde said. “Either lipping it out, leaving it short, something.”

Carolyn Langevin began the day just three shots behind Laplume and Plourde, but she struggled in round two and finished the day in seventh place at 18-over for the tournament.

Plourde finished runner-up in the Maine Women’s Am each of the last two years. Being close to the leader is a familiar spot for Plourde, but with three-time defending tournament champion Staci Creech not in the field this year, the tournament feels more wide open.

“I’ve just got to focus on my own game. Today I kind of felt like I was focusing on the other two instead of my own,” Plourde said. “I tend to worry about what others are doing instead of myself. I have to trust my own swing.”

Although just one year younger than Plourde, Laplume said she looks at her playing partner as a role model. Laplume said she’s excited to play the final round with Plourde on Wednesday.

“(Plourde’s) always been so talented,” Laplume said. “If she plays good, I knew I was going to play good.”

Caddy George Laplume, left, hugs his daughter Jordan Laplume, of Dunegrass Golf Club, after finishing the 18th hole during the Maine Women’s Amateur on Tuesday at the Rockland Golf Club. (Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Photo)