ROGERS (KFSM) - Stacy Lewis admits she puts pressure on herself to perform well at the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship. Today she came through.
Lewis carded a 6-under 65 in her second round at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers to vault into a tie for fourth place heading into Sunday's final round.
"The last four holes were huge," Lewis said. "If I could get within a couple of the lead, hopefully this afternoon they don't do anything crazy. I think I was a couple back last year. You have to shoot low numbers on this golf course and I set myself up to do it again. The greens are perfect this year so that's what you're seeing the scores being so good. It's going to take another one just like last year but I've done it and I can do it so hopefully just get hot on the back nine again."
Just like the former Razorback Lewis, current Arkansas golfer Gaby Lopez used a blistering back nine to record a 6-under 65 to move to 4-under for the tournament (T-31).
"I think it was just a mindset," Lopez said. "Yesterday I was a little nervous and today I did some meditation in the morning and I told myself that I was good enough to play against these girls and to play my best and that's what I did. I focused one shot at a time and felt really calm on the course."
Na Yeon Choi is alone atop the leaderboard at 13-under while fellow South Korean Mi Jung Hur is in second at 11-under. Choi broke a tie with Hur on the par-5 18th as she made eagle to wrap up her round of 8-under 63.
Anna Nordqvist was the lone competitor from the afternoon groups to make a run up the leaderboard as she posted a 5-under 66 to move into a tie for second at 11-under for the tournament.
Nordqvist, Choi and Hur will be in the final group on Sunday, teeing off at 2:05 p.m. while Lewis will be in the next to last group as she will play the final round along side Mika Miyazato and Brittany Lincicome.
Arkansas sophomore Samantha Marks failed to make the cut as she finished with a second straight round of 75 to finish 8-over for the tournament. Though the Razorback won't be around for the final round, it's clear she could be the leader of the next wave of talent from the women's golf program.