Samantha Richdale Closing In On Tour Victory

Richdale and Mendoza hold a three-stroke lead over four players tied at 3-under-par 141, led by Aimee Cho (67) of Orlando, Fla., who posted the low round of the day.

The sound of cannons resounded through the hills of The Links at Gettysburg as soon as second-round play ended, with some players gathering on the hill overlooking the 18th green to watch a reenactment of the epic Civil War battle.

It was a bumpy second-round ride for Mendoza, who totaled seven birdies and an eagle to offset a triple-bogey and a double-bogey. Richdale took the more conventional route with three birdies in a bogey-free round.

Richdale was steady, missing only one fairway in Saturday's second round. She rolled in a birdie from seven feet on No. 17 to tie Mendoza for the lead. Interestingly, the Canadian is only two weeks removed from her first LPGA Tour event at the CN Canadian Women's Open in Ottawa, Ontario, where she finished tied for 52nd.

"I learned to handle the pressure a little bit better (in Canada)," Richdale said. "I think I'm going to be nervous and excited heading into tomorrow because I haven't been in this spot before."

Richdale tapped in for birdie on the fourth hole and made birdie putts of 10 and seven feet on the back nine. In two rounds of play, she has only made one bogey and missed two fairways.

"I'm pretty happy with the way I played except for a bad wedge shot on 18," Richdale said. "Other than that, it was a really good round."

Seventy-one players made the 18-hole cut at 7-over-par 151.

1 Gerina Mendoza (Roswell, N.M.) 70-68 - 138
1 Samantha Richdale (Kelowna, British Columbia) 69-69 - 138
3 Aimee Cho (Orlando, Fla.) 74-67 - 141
3 Vicky Hurst (Melbourne, Fla.) 70-71 - 141
3 Jessica Shepley (Oakville, Ontario) 69-72 - 141
3 Lisa Ferrero (Lodi, Calif.) 69-72 - 141
7 Mindy Kim (Diamond Bar, Calif.) 73-69 - 142
8 Sarah-Jane Kenyon (Queensland, Australia) 71-71 - 142
8 Briana Vega (Andover, Mass.) 69-73 - 142
10 Song Yi Choi (Seoul, South Korea) 73-70 - 143
10 Jenny Suh (Fairfax, Va.) 72-71 - 143
10. J. Hur (Seoul, South Korea 70-73 - 143
10 Kristen Samp (Moberly, Mo.) 70-73 - 143

Canadian Players
14 Lisa Meldrum (Montreal, Quebec) 73-71 - 144
31 Angela Buzminski (Oshawa, Ontario) 70-77 - 147
61 Katrina Leckovic (Burnaby, British Columbia) 74-77 - 151

- - CUT - -
Christine Boucher (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) 76-77 - 153
Salimah Mussani (Burlington, Ontario) 80-74 - 154