When the first round of the Donald Ross Classic resumed on Friday at 7:28 a.m. ET, Celine Borge birdied three of her final five holes on the Donald Ross Course at French Lick Resort to complete a 5-under 66 for the outright 18-hole lead in French Lick, Ind.
Borge bounced back from an early bogey on No. 11, when she opened her round on Thursday, to shoot bogey-free the rest of the way. The Norwegian has two top-15 finishes in her last two starts, including a career-best performance of solo third at the Island Resort Championship last month.
“I just tried to do my best, give my best on every shot,” said Borge, who hit 15 greens in regulations in the first round. “I hit most of the fairways and greens then holed some putts, yeah.”
Casey Danielson carded birdies on the par-5 5th and par-4 8th to shoot 4-under par and join Beth Wu in a share of second. A recent first-time winner on the “Road to the LPGA” at the 2021 Epson Classic, the Stanford University alumna is hoping the Friday restart provides solid momentum for the rest of the day.
“Kind of a crazy start to the tournament, but I got in a rhythm yesterday,” said Danielson, who has missed three of four cuts since her win. “I’m happy that I was able to keep it going this morning to finish out the first round and hopefully take it into the second [round].”
Six players are tied for fourth after 18 holes including Canadian and the current Race for the Card No. 3 Maude-Aimee Leblanc, who went bogey-free yesterday, and two-time Epson Tour champion Rachel Rohanna.
The first round of the Donald Ross Classic was suspended at 5:02 p.m. ET on Thursday due to inclement weather in the area. Play was officially called for the day at 6:17 p.m. ET with 72 players still to complete round one. The second round started Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET.