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Concord, NH – 36 holes have been played at the New Hampshire Women’s Amateur Championship at Concord Country Club and there is a new leader following the second round. Amy Dickison (Breakfast Hill GC) fired a steady 75 (+5) to now claim the lead by one stroke and is trailed by Tara Watt (Derryfield CC) who also shot a 75 (+5) in the second round. Both players sit ahead of the opening round leader, June Doerr (Abenaqui CC) as she shot 84 (+14) to be three back of the lead with one round left to play.

Dickison started out her day making eight straight pars until the 9th hole at Concord CC where she made bogey. Despite that, she made the turn at just one-over par which propelled her into a tie for the lead as Doerr went seven-over on the one the front nine to let her six-shot lead slip.

“It seems the last couple days, I have had a much better first nine and somehow I lose focus on the back, so I need to work on that”, commented Dickison following her round.

Although there were more bogeys on her second nine, she was able to hang on enough to avoid any larger numbers on her card. With five bogeys and one birdie on the back nine, Dickison finished up her round with a 75 (+5).

“I got my short game back today, but I lost my tee shot a little bit and struggled a little bit on the second nine today”, stated Dickison. “You really have to have a good second shot into these greens to have any hope of getting close to the pin.”

For those players in the Championship Flight, the course was about 700 yards longer than the previous day to provide more a test for the top competitors in the field. Dickison said, “I’m not one of the longer hitters, so it definitely makes it a little harder because you have to come into these greens with a longer iron. My short game will have to be on tomorrow because a lot of the girls here hit a lot further than I do.”

Despite not being a longer hitter, Dickison used her short game to her advantage and now finds her name at the top of the leaderboard following two rounds of the tournament. She stated, “I’m happy to be where I am, I’m pleasantly surprised.”

One of the longer hitters in the field that Dickison will need to keep an eye on is 2011 and 2020 New Hampshire Women’s Amateur Champion, Tara Watt. Watt was able to match Dickison’s 75 (+5) in the second round to sit just one shot back in second place. Having improved on her first round of 77 (+7), she is happy with certain parts of her game but hopes to improve on others for the final round.

“Honestly, it’s been my putting, I had 28 putts yesterday and 29 today”, stated Watt. “I’m not really hitting the ball that great, so it is a scramble out there. I was getting up and down everywhere and I made a couple birdies coming in so that helped.”

Now that the course is playing at a longer distance, Watt can use that to her advantage among the rest of the field as she is able to hit it farther than most. She said, “I hit the ball really far off the tee, although I was not hitting my driver well today, so it did not help me that much. When I do hit it well, I have a lot less club into greens, so it helps me out a lot.”

Experience may be Watt’s key to success as the field has one round left to play in the championship. While Watt feels her game hasn’t been exactly where she wants it, she knows what she needs to do in the final round saying, “I definitely need to hit more greens and fairways. If I can figure that out, I think I can put a nice round together tomorrow.”

With 18 holes left, seven players sit within eight shots of the lead. It will be important to put together a strong final round to leave Concord Country Club with the New Hampshire Women’s Amateur Championship trophy.

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