“I felt like I had a good game plan and sometimes you execute it and sometimes you don’t and today was one of those days that I did,” said Lopez.  “I hit good drives and put myself in good positions which is important out here.”

The UCLA graduate made a bogey on the third hole and was 1-over through her first five holes.  She made back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh and carded three more birdies on the back nine.

“I hit good approach shots to these greens and these greens are tough.  You really have to be on the right tiers and have your speed really good because they firmed up this afternoon.”

Lopez took just 26 putts on the day and hit 12 of 14 fairways. 

The Whittier, California native has been in a great rhythm.  In addition to her solo second place finish last week, she tied for fifth two weeks ago at the Decatur-Forsyth Classic. Lopez has finished inside the top-30 in each of the last five events. 

The 24-year-old is a fan of Sweetgrass Golf Club.

“I think it’s a great golf course. It really forces you to be very precise off the tee and since it is links style you don’t have very many targets when you look towards the horizon like last week when we had tree lines everywhere.  You have to know where the pins are because the greens are very large out here so you have to make adjustments.”

Lopez has earned $27,684 this year, the top-earning rookie on Tour.  Over the last two weeks, she has pocketed $16,912.

“I think my play is improving because I’ve had the opportunity to play really good courses lately.  Honestly, throughout the whole season we’ve had great courses.  It teaches you to work on every single aspect of your game.  I’m just trying to focus on getting better every day.  I have a goal of becoming a better player and getting better all around and it has been fun.”

Lopez took a one shot lead into the final round of the Four Winds Invitational last week and was outdone by Nicole Vandermade in a classic duel.

“I learned that having the lead is a lot of fun and that it is worth working towards.  Everything that you do when you have the lead will make a difference when you need it really bad.  I remember that every single shot mattered.  It taught me to hone in on certain parts of my game and learn what my strengths and weaknesses are.”

Cindy Feng, Taylor Collins and Christine Meier are two shots back in a three-way tie for sixth. Kendall Dye, Lacey Agnew, Jennie Lee and Mary Narzisi are in a four-way tie for ninth at 1-under-par. 

A HOLE-IN-ONE AT SWEETGRASS: Noriko Inoue became the ninth Symetra Tour player to record a hole-in-one on Friday at the Island Resort Championship. Inoue used an 8-iron from 153-yards on the 15th hole to card her first career hole-in-one.

“Everyone was cheering when it went in so I was really happy,” said the Symetra Tour rookie Inoue.  “Right before I hit I changed my club (from 7-iron to 8-iron) and I think it is a good thing that I switched.”
 

Sue Harris, the tournament director of the Island Resort Championship, presented Inoe with $500 in cash for her ace.

Read more at www.symetratour.com .