The second round of the Epson Tour Championship was suspended at 1:50 p.m. EDT on Friday due to severe weather in Daytona Beach, Fla. near the Jones Course at LPGA International. Five groups from the morning wave had yet to finish, while the entire afternoon wave at least started the second round.
Competition resumed at 8:40 a.m. on Saturday after a short fog delay. By the end of the second round, Daniela Iacobelli’s (Melbourne, Florida) 62 from Friday secured her the 36-hole lead in the Epson Tour Championship at -15. Allie White (Lancaster, Ohio) returned in the morning to post a bogey-free 6-under 66 and jump into solo second at -13. “I was feeling pretty level, so that helped,” said White, who carded six total birdies.
This week means a bit more to White, who is looking for her first Epson Tour victory. She gets to share the season finale with her sister, who is on the bag at LPGA International. “That’s one of the coolest things of this whole year,” she said. “My sister’s a school nurse, so she’s able to get out to the summer events, and then she has been able to get to a couple of these fall events. It just means a lot that she can make that happen for me.”
Three players sit in a tie for third at -12. Primma Thammaraks (Bangkok, Thailand) set the tone on Friday with her second-round 63, while Peiyun Chien (Pingtung, Chinese Taipei) and Amanda Doherty (Atlanta, Georgia) joined her after posting a 64 and 66 on Saturday morning, respectively. Both Chien and Doherty are fighting for the four undecided final spots in the Race to the Card standings as 36 holes remain, with Chien ranked 18th heading into the Epson Tour Championship and Doherty, a 2020 Epson Tour rookie, at No. 8.
“I’m just trying to enjoy myself and trying to go and beat the golf course. If I can do that, then I should be in a pretty good spot,” said Doherty. “Just as much as I can to not think about what other people are doing. My college coach, I talked with her last week, and she said, ‘You can’t control what anyone else is doing. Focus on what you can control,’ and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
Two-time Epson Tour winner Casey Danielson (Osceola, Wisconsin), along with Isi Gabsa (Munich, Germany) and 18-hole leader Michaela Finn (Brastad, Sweden) are tied for sixth at -11, with four players including defending champion Frida Kinhult (Fiskebackskil, Sweden) five strokes back of the lead at -10 in a tie for ninth. A total of 71 players made the cut of 4-under par.