MASON, Ohio, June 20, 2009 – First-round leader Pernilla Lindberg admitted that she had a little trouble winding down her brain Friday night after tying the course record with an 8-under-par round of 63. And when she arrived at The Golf Center at Kings Island for today’s second round of the $125,000 Duramed Championship, she made up her mind to “just start over.”

Easier said, than done. But after 36 holes on The Grizzly Course, the Swede maintains a three-shot lead at 132 (-10), carding a two-under score of 69 today to hold off hard-charging Cindy LaCrosse (70) of Tampa, Fla., who is poised within striking distance at 135 (-7) in the third annual tournament.

“I really tried to focus on my game out there,” said Lindberg of Bollnas, Sweden, who graduated from Oklahoma State University less than a month ago. “I had just as much fun as yesterday because I’m still striking the ball well.”

Paired with LaCrosse and 2009 tournament winner Samantha Richdale (74) of Kelowna, British Columbia, Lindberg’s final-group pairing had supercharged potential with two-time winner Richdale antsy for another victory, and rookies LaCrosse and Lindberg, each in their third tournament as professionals, eager to break through with a win at the next level.

But instead of revving their engines, the two rookies sputtered on the front nine and Richdale made the nine-hole turn at four over. It certainly wasn’t the start that Lindberg had hoped would follow Friday’s sparkling round. She recorded two bogeys, missed three birdie chances and three-putted for par on the 480-yard par-5 ninth hole.

Meanwhile, LaCrosse, who bogeyed two of her first three holes, rallied back with a 12-foot birdie on No. 4, and a birdie on the ninth hole from a bunker to eight feet. That drew her even with Lindberg at six under. But LaCrosse knew better than to get comfortable.

“I knew she was going to start turning it on,” said LaCrosse, who graduated a month ago from the University of Louisville.

Both players matched birdies on the 10^th hole, with Lindberg rolling in a five-footer, while LaCrosse drained her birdie from six feet. With eight holes remaining and no one else within two shots, LaCrosse and Lindberg appeared to be moving into a two-horse race. But Lindberg chipped poorly on the 13^th and didn’t convert her six-foot downhill putt for par, giving LaCrosse a one-shot lead. That prompted the Swede to pause for a moment.

“On the 14^th tee, I started thinking about the rest of the holes and I told my brother [who is her caddie this week] that I know I can birdie all of those holes,” said Lindberg.

She nearly did, making birdie on four of the last five holes. She rolled in a 15-footer on the 14^th, a four-footer on the 15^th, another birdie from eight feet on the 16^th, and then drained her five-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a ferocious late rally that rendered a little more breathing room going into Sunday’s final round.

LaCrosse scrambled with three consecutive par saves on holes 12-14, three-putted for bogey on the 17^th, and rolled in a 15-foot uphill birdie putt on the 18^th, but she could not catch Lindberg,

“She hits it really long and had a lot of short irons into holes,” said LaCrosse of Lindberg. “And once she got that putter going, there was no stopping her.”

Lindberg was focused on her birdie plan down the stretch and did not look at leaderboards. She also told herself not to drift into a match-play mentality with LaCrosse, but to focus instead, on getting the job done on the golf course.

“I started off a little bit rough today and had to make some adjustments with the wind, but I was never worried,” said Lindberg, who needed only 27 putts today. “I just kept telling myself to keep doing what I was doing.”

Still congested and stuffy with either allergies or a cold, Misun Cho (70) of Cheongju, South Korea, was surprised to move up the leaderboard into third place at 137 (-5). Her day was a struggle from the start and the 2009 tournament winner said her arms and legs “were shaky” and she wondered if she could even finish her round today.

“For a while, I thought I was either going to faint or withdraw,” said Cho. “But I ate a banana on the seventh hole and after a while, I felt better again.”

Cho made the nine-hole turn at two-over-par 37, but rolled in three birdies on the back nine to crawl back into the hunt, five shots behind the leader.

Whitney Wade (69) of Glasgow, Ky., and 2009 tournament winner Jean Reynolds (70) of Newnan, Ga., are tied for fourth at 138 (-4), while Richdale is tied for sixth with amateur Victoria Kiser (72) of Orlando, Fla., at 139 (-3).

A total of 17 players are at even-par 142 or better on the rolling 6,203-yard, par-71 course.

Eighty-five players made the 36-hole cut at 148 (+6).

Sunday's final round of The Duramed Championship, presented by Time Warner Cable, will begin at 7:30 a.m., off the first and tenth tees. The leaders will tee off at 9:50 a.m., off the first tee.

For scores and more information, visit duramedfuturestour.com.

Weather: Sunny with temperatures in the high 80s and afternoon wind from 9-13 mph.

Second Time Around For Caddie Daddy

Duramed FUTURES Tour player Sarah Lynn (Johnston) Sargent of Greer, S.C., has gotten some unique perspective from her caddie this week while playing The Grizzly Course at The Golf Center at Kings Island. That’s because her father, Ralph Johnston, who is serving as her caddie, played here on the PGA Tour in the mid-1970s and remembers being the one hitting the shots.

Johnston says Jack Nicklaus, who co-designed The Grizzly course with Jay Morrish, held what is now known as The Memorial Tournament here before he had completed designing and building Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, where The Memorial is now held.

“Nicklaus was a perfectionist, so we weren’t going to play anywhere before it was ready,” said Johnston. “I’ve heard that he even moved a creek at Muirfield.”

Johnston laughed at the memory of how he once played the 18^th hole on the Grizzly Course at The Golf Center at Kings Island in PGA Tour competition. He was four-under par and was 225 yards out with a shot into the green.

“What did I do?” laughed Johnston. “I chunked it into the lake. I shot either a 68 or 69 and the round got rained out. I remember that hole and I told Sarah that she could never hit over that green and to just play enough club.”

Of course, clubs and club lofts have changed dramatically over the years. When Johnston was on tour, if he faced a 200-yard, par-3 hole, he used a 2-iron. That club choice has since changed, as hybrids and lofted fairway metals have replaced the old low-lofted blade irons that once rattled around in Johnston’s bag.

“Today’s clubs have less loft,” he said. “And now nobody even has a 2-iron.”

College Prep Golf For Amateurs

Every Duramed FUTURES Tour tournament has at least one amateur exemption, allowing players, such as this week’s amateur exemption, Laura Kueny of Muskegon, Mich., and Michigan State University, a chance to compete on a higher level.

But two Tour members spend a portion of the season playing on the Tour as amateurs, hoping to step up their games alongside the pros to be more competitive against college players. Amateurs may attend the Tour’s qualifying tournament each fall to earn a spot on the roster to play on the Tour during the summer months.

Two years ago, amateur Tour member Jessica Yadloczky of Casselberry, Fla., spent the summer before her freshman year at the University of Florida, playing on the Duramed FUTURES Tour. For five weeks, she teed it up alongside the pros, hoping to gain a competitive edge before she played in her first college tournament.

“I felt like I’d been around the world by the time I got to college,” said Yadloczky, who plans to play six tournaments this summer in preparation for her junior season at Florida this fall. “I went to college knowing there are better players out there than what I’d face in school because I’d already played with them.”

Yadloczky has gone head to head against many of the rookie pros on the Duramed FUTURES Tour this year. She has known rookie Cindy LaCrosse of Tampa, Fla., since they were age 14, playing junior golf together. And she has been teammates at Florida with others, like Hannah Yun of Bradenton, Fla., and Whitney Myers of York, Pa.

“I’m playing with better players out here, some who were the best college golfers one to three years ago,” she said. “Being out here puts me on a another level, higher than college golf, so when I get back to college, I feel like I am better prepared and ready to win.”

Just as Yadloczky did, Stephanie Kim of Orlando, Fla., has played as an amateur on the Duramed FUTURES Tour in preparation for her first collegiate season. Kim enters Wake Forest University (N.C.) this fall as a freshman member of the Deacons’ women’s golf team. She played in nine Tour events as an amateur last year, making six cuts, and she has already played in eight tournaments this season, finishing in a season-best tie for 51^st in the 2009 season opener in Winter Haven, Fla. She will compete on the Tour through July, and then begin preparing to leave for college in early August.

“It’s all about getting experience that is way different than amateur or junior golf,” said Kim. “It’s hard. And it’s not just about playing. It’s about scheduling, resting, eating right and taking care of yourself. You learn a lot about responsibility when you do this.”

Kim admits that she has considered turning professional and skipping the college experience, but this season, she has spent time talking to former Wake Forest players Maggie Simons of Raleigh, N.C., and Laura Crawford of Lancaster, S.C. They have helped provide some perspective about her experience on a professional tour and her future in college golf.

“Talking to them and being here has helped me understand, ‘What’s the rush to turn pro?’” said Kim. “You get a reality check out here and it has helped me become better rounded. Everybody on this tour has so much experience and I have learned from them. I think I’ll definitely play better next year in college because I played here.”

Contact: Lisa D. Mickey, Duramed FUTURES Tour at (386) 214-9726 and at lisa@duramedfuturestour.com.