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Voor Anne van Dam staat er deze week op The Renaissance Golf Club in North Berwick veel op het spel. Zij kan een flinke stap zetten in de richting van het behoud van haar speelrecht op de LPGA Tour én een plaats in het Europese Solheim Cup-team afdwingen.
Voor wat dat laatste betreft lijkt het de goede kant op te gaan. Haar naaste concurrenten moeten in de top-10 eindigen om punten te behalen, maar die kans lijkt vrij klein.
Vooralsnog staat Van Dam met een score van tien onder in de top-3. Vooralsnog, omdat het bij vlagen slechte weer ervoor zorgde dat niet iedereen de tweede ronde kon afmaken. Een aantal speelsters moest zaterdagochtend vroeg de baan in.
Anne van Dam was na afloop niet ontevreden, getuige dit interview dat de LPGA Tour naar de redactie stuurde:
Q. How happy are you with the way you played?
ANNE VAN DAM: Yeah, it's fine. We got definitely lucky with the weather today, so that was the big thing. As soon as we got out on 1, it was sunny, so I thought it's nicer now, take some advantage of that. Front nine -- well, back nine could have been a bit better, but overall it was fine.
Q. What was the highlight out there?
ANNE VAN DAM: I hit some shots close into the green, which was nice to see, especially on links golf, it's hard sometimes. Especially on the front nine, I hit some quite close and that was good.
Q. How hard is it to bunker play a round of 8-under par?
ANNE VAN DAM: It's always hard because you know it's out there. Even today, even today, it felt like a score like that was in it. On those days where you shoot 8-under, everything feels so easy, and on a day like today, you see what a 2-under, what a difference it is on a day where it's just your day. But yeah, I think it's always important to just restart and see it as a new day and not think about, oh, I eagled this hole yesterday; I was 6-under through the turn here.
Q. Looking ahead to the weekend, obviously this event in its own right is big for you, and keep asking it, Solheim Cup, the last qualification, do you have a goal in mind for the rest of the week, apart from winning?
ANNE VAN DAM: That's about right, yeah. I'm in good position and I'm just trying to see day by day. There's two more days. I think the weather is going to be so-so again, so I don't know what it will hold up. I think if we get decent weather, low scores are out there, so I know I have to shoot two good numbers. If it will get rainy and more windy, maybe two rounds around par will be fine. So I have no clue. I just see it day by day and go from there.