SARASOTA, Fla., April 22, 2016 - Brittany Altomare (Schrewsbury, Mass.) has played out of Sarasota during the last two offseasons and her comfort in the area showed on Friday as she posted a 2-under 70 to share the lead with Sara-Maude Juneau (Quebec, Canada) at the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay. Sustained winds of 21-miles-an-hour with gusts peaking at 27 miles-an-hour made scoring very difficult.
“This course is tough enough without the wind, the greens are tough,” said Altomare, who has played out of Longboat Key Club the last two offseasons. “The wind makes it that much tougher and you can tell with the scores.”
Altomare was one of just three players that finished under-par. Paola Moreno is one shot off the lead at 1-under 71. Only five of the 143 players that finished round one posted scores of even-par or better.
The former ACC Player of the Year made six birdies including back-to-back birdies to end her day.
“I was just hitting my irons really well,” said 25-year-old Altomare. “The ball was going right where I wanted it to and the distances were right and I left my putts below the hole.”
Altomare is staying with Mark Sheffield this week, a member at Longboat Key. Sheffield is also on the bag.
Altomare finished T21 at the Pure-Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic and made enough money to get reshuffled to play the remainder of the year on the LPGA.
“I’m excited to be up with the big girls,” said Altomare. “I started working with a golf coach, Justin Sheehan, out of Old Memorial and he’s done incredible things and I’ve gained a lot of distance so I think it is time and I’m ready for the LPGA.”
Although Altomare has set her sights on the LPGA, she would love to win her first professional event this weekend.
“You always want to win every time you enter a tournament,” said Altomare. “It’s a good confidence booster and I haven’t won yet as a professional so it would be really nice to do that.”
JUNEAU SHARES LEAD AFTER ATTENDING LIGHTNING GAME: Sara-Maude Juneau has had a busy last 48 hours. On Thursday night, she drove to Tampa with fellow Tour professional Jessica Wallace to watch the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Detroit Red Wings to close the series.
“I told Jess that if I had an afternoon tee time that I’d totally go and when I saw my tee time on Wednesday, I was so happy,” said 28-year-old Juneau. “Last night was a late one, but we had so much fun and it was nice to get away and today I just did my best.”
Juneau made two birdies on the front and two birdies on the back including one on the 18th to grab a share of the lead.
The former Louisville golfer has 14 career top 10 finishes, but is looking for her first win. She finished tenth on the Volvik Race for the Card money list in 2012 to earn her card. She has made 22 career starts on the LPGA.
SARA BAY CLUB CHAMP HELPING MORENO: Paola Moreno (Cali, Colombia) carded a 1-under 71 and had the clubhouse lead until late in the day.
Moreno, who has made 67 career starts on the LPGA, started on the back nine with three pars before going birdie-bogey on the 13th and 14th holes. She made birdie at 18 to make the turn at 1-under. Her consistency continued on her inward nine with a bogey on five and a birdie on eight.
“Overall, I putted really well and I think the course is playing tough,” explained Moreno. “The wind was gusting all over the course and I was able to make a really good shot on eight.”
Moreno said there were certain holes where she was taking two extra clubs into the green.
“It wasn’t every shot, but you have to adjust with a little bit higher shot or a lower shot and change the trajectory,” said Moreno. “You just have to be able to adjust so the wind doesn’t affect the ball so much.”
Moreno has made the cut in all three Epson Tour events to start the year with her best finish coming at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic when she closed T22. She said considering the conditions, the 1-under 71 was her best round of the year.
“I was very, very happy with my putting,” said Moreno. “My ball striking was good, I was able to hit pretty much every fairway in regulation and it was a good start to the tournament.”
Moreno said that putting will be the key over the weekend. She attempted 30 putts on Friday and ranks 36th on Tour in putting average entering the Guardian Retirement Championship at Sara Bay.
Moreno’s caddie, Dan Mills, is the 2012 Sara Bay club champion. They met in 2012 when Moreno played in the pro-am with Mills’ wife and the two have remained friends.
“He helped me out a lot that first year, I asked a lot of questions,” said Moreno. “He’s actually caddied for me on the LPGA at one tournament too. We’re really good friends and I’m just happy he is looping for me this week.”
Moreno finished second on the Epson Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list in 2012. She has two career wins and eight top 10 finishes on the Epson Tour.
LOCAL HALLY LEADBETTER CARDS 1-OVER: Hally Leadbetter, who lives just minutes from Sara Bay, will graduate Rollins College in two weeks. This week, she’s competing in her second Guardian Retirement Championship. She posted a very respectable 1-over 73 on Friday and is in a tie for sixth.
“The greens are tough and I think I went into the day a little bit nervous,” said Leadbetter, who helped Rollins College win the Sunshine State Conference title on Tuesday. “I started pretty well and then had two bogeys in a row which shook me a bit, but my caddie Shaun McBride really helped me calm down and reminded me that the conditions were tough.”
Leadbetter, the daughter of David Leadbetter, made back-to-back birdies on holes 16 and 17.
“My goal was not to embarrass myself when I first played (in the Guardian Retirement Championship in 2013),” said Leadbetter. “I’ve come a long way since then in the sense that I really just don’t care what people think anymore. I just want to see how good I can play and compare my game to other professionals if this is what I want to do. I need to just play golf and see how my game stacks up.”
OLYMPIC HOPEFUL PAZ ECHEVERRIA IN MIX: Paz Echeverria (Santiago, Chile) made eagle on 18 to card a 1-over 73 on Friday and stands in a tie for sixth.
“I played really good golf, I just missed it twice on the wrong side and it cost me a double-bogey and a bogey, but I putted really well. I was lucky to get an eagle on 18, which helped me a lot.”
She hit a 3-wood from 215-yards to eight feet to set up the eagle on the final hole.
Echeverria has played predominantly on the LPGA over the last three years. In 2015, she had one top 10 finish, but struggled over her final 16 events, missing the cut in each.
“This Tour is getting bigger and bigger and I’d say the competition here is really good,” said Echeverria, who turns 31 during the next tournament in Greenwood. “If you want to finish in the top ten, you really have to play good golf and that is what I am looking for. Unfortunately, I missed almost every cut last year (LPGA) so I was only playing two days a week and that was tough because I wasn’t getting the rhythm I need.
Echeverria is planning a full schedule on the Epson Tour.
Echeverria said she has been playing a lot and learning a lot from fellow Olympic hopeful Candy Hannemann this year.
“It has been nice to share a lot with Candy and play practice rounds with her,” said Echeverria. “I’ve learned a lot from her experience. I am also really close friends with Mariajo Uribe (LPGA) and she was probably the one that helped me most in the beginning.”
Echeverria is currently No. 59 on the International Golf Federation rankings and the top 60 come July 11 will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.
“At the beginning, I was thinking a lot about it, but not anymore,” said Echeverria. “I’m just going to play golf and enjoy it and if I’m able to get in, that would be the most incredible thing on earth.”
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