By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Kristen Smith got to know the Eagle Creek Country Club golf course very well last Friday. After she played an 18-hole round in a team play league there, she went back out and studied the layout even closer to prepare for the Northern Kentucky Women’s Amateur.
The 20-year-old college student’s research was rewarded on Monday when she shot a 5-under-par 67 in the opening round of the Amateur at Eagle Creek. She has a two-stroke lead going into the final round of stroke play on Tuesday.
“I knew I could shoot well if I hit it in the right spots, and that’s what my game plan was starting off,” said Smith, a senior on the Northern Kentucky University women’s golf team. “I didn’t hit my driver until hole No. 6 because I wanted to keep out of danger. I just put it in the fairway and got to the green and tried to two-putt every hole.”
Her strategy worked so well that she carded seven birdies, 10 pars and one double-bogey during her round. The double-bogey came on No. 13, but she didn’t let that shake her confidence. She got a birdie on No. 15 and drained long putts for par on No. 16 and No. 17.
“There was not a whole lot of up-and-down,” Smith said of her round. “Most of my shots (from the fairway) were anywhere from 60 to 120 yards out and I made the green. That’s the part of my game that’s really on point right now and it worked out pretty nice.”
This is the third time that Smith has played in the Amateur. The Pendleton County High School graduate won the title in 2012 when it was a match play final and she tied for third place last year when the format was switched to stoke play.
The top nine scorers in Monday’s opening round will play in the Bluegrass Flight on Tuesday. The two golfers behind Smith on the leader board after the first round were Jill Edgington with a 3-under 69 and Nadine Innes with an 2-under 70.
Edgington, a sophomore on the Centre College golf team, shot 4-under 32 on the front nine and 1-over 37 on the back nine in the firt round. Innes, an incoming freshman on the Murray State University golf team, shot 1-under 35 on both the front and back nine.
The other six golfers in the Bluegrass Flight are Sharon Voelker (75), Libby Moses (76), Hannah Scroggins (77), Courtney Tierney (77), Laura Schild (78) and Lisa Houchen (78).
Lori Eberle, an eight-time Amateur champion who won last year’s 18-hole tournament that was cut short by rain, shot a 78 on Monday. She will play the final round in the Dixie Flight, but she is still in the running for the championship trophy that goes to the golfer with the lowest two-day total.
Scores and tee times for the Amateur are posted on the Northern Kentucky Women’s Golf Association website.