MESA, ARIZONA, March 30, 2017 - Mina Harigae (Monterey, Calif.), the 2009 Epson Tour Player of the Year, carded a 4-under, 68 to move into a share of the 36-hole lead at 7-under, 137. Late in the day, Stephanie Kono (Honolulu, Hawaii) made birdie on her last hole to get to 7-under as well. Harigae, who lives ten minutes from Longbow Golf Club, will go for her fourth career win on Saturday in the final round while Kono aims for her first.
A total of 63 players made the cut, which fell at 3-over 147.
“My driver was good, my irons were good, but mostly my putter has been solid,” said Harigae, who has six career top 10 finishes on the LPGA Tour. “I’ve played mostly mistake free golf which has really helped me.”
The highlight of her round was the 13th hole, when she chipped in for birdie.
“I actually didn’t see the golf course at all on that hole,” joked Harigae. “I hit it in the fairway bunker, then I hit it over the green and had an elevated chip and I chipped it in. It was definitely a fun birdie.”
Harigae got into the first LPGA Tour event of the year in the Bahamas to kick off her eighth year on Tour and finished T31, but hasn’t been able to get into events since. Therefore, she decided to play this week in order to keep fresh and because of how close she lives to the course.
“I just wanted to play in a tournament because I’ve been playing well and it has been so much fun playing somewhere so close to my house,” explained Harigae. “This was my home course for the first three years that I lived here so I know it very well.”
Harigae won the Heather Farr at Longbow as a junior.
Kono, who has known Harigae for a long time starting with junior golf, made three birdies and just one bogey to post a 70. She turned in a bogey-free 67 on Thursday.
“I’m playing solid right now and hit a lot of good shots today, but didn’t quite make as many putts as yesterday,” said Kono. “I stayed patient today and I am really proud of myself for that.”
Kono has five career top 10 finishes on the Epson Tour and two of them have come at Longbow Golf Club.
“I feel ready (to win),” said Kono. “It will be fun tomorrow.”
The final group of Harigae, Kono and Emma Talley (Princeton, Ky.) will tee at 8:50 a.m. The Tour has planned a split-tee start in order to allow players ample time to travel to the next event in Northern California at Windsor Golf Club.
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