Apr. 4—EVANS — A year ago, Kiara Romero was just having fun during the round of a lifetime at Augusta National Golf Club.
Romero had missed the cut after 36 tough holes at Champions Retreat Golf Club, but the light at the end of the tunnel was the guaranteed practice round everyone in the field at the Augusta National Women's Amateur gets to play prior to the final round.
She didn't take any notes that Friday, instead opting to stay in the moment and enjoy herself at Augusta National.
A year later, her practice round carried a little more weight. Romero, a sophomore at the University of Oregon ranked fifth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is a co-leader heading into Saturday's final round.
Joining her in the final pairing is world No. 1 Lottie Woad, the defending champion looking to make history as ANWA's first multi-time winner. Needless to say, Romero is relishing the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the champ.
"I definitely have a good amount of confidence with my game right now, and I know the player she is and the accomplishments she's had," Romero said Friday after her practice round. "So being in that position would definitely mean a lot to me, yeah."
Both enter the final round at 9 under atop a crowded leaderboard. All 32 players to make the cut are under par, a tournament first, meaning there are 30 players within eight shots of the lead.
Sleeping on the lead at a tournament is one thing — to do it two nights in a row is something else. Woad has been under the pressure before, entering the final round last year with a two-shot lead and 34 players chasing her within eight shots.
It was a new pressure last year, but she overcame it and a late deficit with a birdie-birdie finish to win by a shot. It's a type of experience only 2022 champion Anna Davis (seven back at 2 under) can match, and it's something Woad can use to her advantage on Saturday.
"Yeah, I think I can definitely use last year, you know," the Florida State junior said following Thursday's second round. "I had the lead and then lost it. Tomorrow if that happens again, then I'd know that I've come back from there before. So I guess it's positive memories."
She doesn't intend to change her routine from last year, and who could blame her?
Three players are a shot back. One of those is Stanford junior Megha Ganne, who shattered ANWA scoring records with her first-round 63. She came back to the field with a second-round 73, though she took from it a lot of positives that didn't show up on the scorecard. That's golf, and she's still in prime position with 18 holes to play.
"Yeah, I'm really honored to be up with those names," said Ganne, the 12th-ranked amateur in the world. "Lottie, she's world No. 1 for a reason. The rest of the top of the board looks like the rest of our college tournaments, so this really is a premier event. I think a lot of the big names are coming to the top of the board, which is, I think, really exciting for us players to battle it out on Saturday."
Spaniards Carla Bernat Escuder and Andrea Revuelta are also at 8 under. Bernat, a senior at Kansas State ranked 29th in the world, turned in matching 68s and made only one bogey at Champions Retreat, while Revuelta, a freshman at Stanford ranked 13th, surged into contention with a second-round 66. Bernat doesn't mind being a shot behind, and she's not planning to think about any of the players behind her — just Woad and Romero, and how to overtake them.
"I think I'm going to sleep OK because I can chase instead of be chased in this moment, right?," she said Thursday. "I like to chase more than being chased. I am excited to just go out there tomorrow, ...
