Font Size

Dewi Weber, who was blocked from participating in the Paris Olympics by Dutch sports authorities, took the lead after a 10-under par 62 after the second round of the LPGA Portland Classic on Friday.

The 28-year-old from the Netherlands finished 36 holes at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Oregon with seven birdies and 10 bogeys, the lowest round of his career, for a total of 16-under 128.

American Andrea Lee, who made six birdies in a row starting from the 11th hole, shared second place with German Polly Mack with 130 points with 63 shots, while South Korean Jenny Shin and Australian Grace Kim scored 131, and Americans Alexa Pano and Emma Talley scored 132 points.

Weber had met the International Golf Federation (IGF) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) qualification standards for Paris, but the Dutch Olympic Committee had its own standards that athletes had to have a “realistic chance” of finishing in the top eight to be sent to the Olympics; Weber and the others had not reached that level.

“It’s two laps down, so we’ll see how everything goes and if I can really make a statement,” Weber said.

“But of course it’s in the back of my mind, because it’s the week before the Olympics. I was looking forward to it.

“It happened. I did my best to prevent it. I failed. Some people tried harder than me and they failed too.

“It’s bad, but all we can do is try to prove why these standards are so ridiculous. And I really hope to do that on Sunday. We’ll see.”

Weber told Golf Digest in June that it hurt him to be told, “No, we don’t think you’re worthy of going to the Olympics.”

Weber, who made seven birdies in a row from the second to the eighth holes on Thursday, made seven more birdies in a row from the par-5 fifth to the par-4 eleventh hole on Friday.

“I did a really good job of hitting both days,” Weber said.

“Okay, I’m going to try to place my ball as best as I can and when it was my turn to bat, it was like, okay, we saw the line, we decided on this and we’re going to hit it well.

“And they all came in for a reason.”

Weber, seeking her first LPGA title, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole and started the back nine with two consecutive six-foot birdie putts.

That left Annika Sorenstam wondering about her chances of shooting a 59, her lowest on the LPGA.

“I made seven in a row and I knew I had a pretty short putt for eight in a row and I really wanted to make that putt,” Weber said. “I played these mental games with myself — oh, if I make one more really good one, maybe it’ll be in the 59th game.”

He then ended the streak by making an 8-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole.

“I was still thinking, let’s try to make birdie, it’s such a fun way to play golf.

“It was on my mind, but I didn’t really let it affect me. I just tried to make good shots.”

Weber took the lead with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 13th hole and closed with a 5-foot birdie putt to take a two-stroke lead.