Kerr leads by one

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June 5, 2011

Even a double bogey couldn’t prevent Cristie Kerr from grabbing the second-round lead in the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Even a double bogey on the 12th hole couldn’t prevent Cristie Kerr from grabbing the second-round lead in the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Kerr shot a six-under-par 65 to finish on eight-under 134 and take a one-shot lead over Catriona Matthew with one round left to play.

Though the double on 12 might have caused her to lose focus at one stage in her career, it wasn’t the case on Saturday.

“Yeah, I think it’s maturity,” said the 33-year-old.

“But I recognize that you can make some birdies on the stretch coming in. It just didn’t feel like a bad double. It sounds odd, but just didn’t feel like I made double. So when you make a stupid mistake or something happens and you make double, you get more mad at yourself.”

Kerr didn’t get angry. Instead, she rolled in three birdies in her final five holes to move into pole position for a 15th victory on the LPGA Tour.

With the stiff breeze that made scoring tough on the first day calming down over the weekend, Kerr knows that there quite a few ladies capable of going low on Sunday. With 12 players within five shots of her lead, including fellow American Brittany Lincicome just two shots back and third-ranked Jiyai Shin three behind, it’s still anyone’s game.

“I think it starts with the mindset, ‘Are you ready to go low?'” said Kerr. “‘Are you ready to, no matter what comes at you? Are you able to handle it?’

“I felt like I was like that today. I pray every day I’m in that mindset. Because that’s a good place for me, very intense, knowing what I’ve got to do, taking care of my job.”

Second-placed Catriona Matthew, a 41-year-old mother of two, will become the first player in her 40s to win on the LPGA Tour since Helen Alfredsson won in China in 2008 should she do the job. She shot a 67 on Saturday.

“I’ve been on tour a long time,” said Matthew, who had six birdies and two bogeys. “I’ve learned from those situations before and I’ll be nervous tomorrow. So I just need to hopefully learn from being there in the past and cope with it.”

Lincicome, winless since her first major victory at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2009, shot a 64 on Saturday, the best round of the tournament so far.

“I drove it well, I hit it to most of the greens well and I just seemed to make everything,” she said. “Nothing really went in yesterday so I must have been saving them for today.”

“I am just looking to win and get back in the winner’s area, even the same zip code,” she said. “It’s been a while so it’s nice to be near the top of the leaderboard. It’s nice to be back in the media room and getting asked questions about my round. Everything is going in the right direction. I am working hard and playing well.”

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