AMES—Surging into contention with a strong finishing kick Sunday, the Central College women's golf team pulled within four shots of the lead at the American Rivers tournament.
           
Freshman Allie Pfantz (State Center, West Marshall HS) had three birdies en route to a career-best 74 on the par-71 Ames Golf and Country Club course, the day's best round. She's at 83-74—157, just a shot behind tournament leader Morgan Hawkins of the University of Dubuque, who has 75-81—156 after two rounds of the 54-hole tournament which concludes Monday.
           
Tournament favorite Dubuque leads at 324-331—655 with Central at 335-324—659, followed closely by Coe College at 342-320—661. Wartburg College is fourth at 345-331—676.
           
Two-time all-conference honoree Lydia Grond (senior, Hull, Boyden-Hull HS) moved into a tie for fifth place at 82-81—162. Parker Stout (senior, Lowden, North Cedar HS) is at 84-86—170 to share 19th place with Amber Timmer (freshman, San Diego, Cali., Mount Carmel HS), who parred her last seven holes Sunday to move to 87-83—170. Mickey Martens (sophomore, Villa Park, Ill., Willowbrook HS) is 26th at 87-88—175.
           
"At one time we were 20 strokes down, so it was a little bit of a tough start, but a super-solid finish to keep us in it," coach Tabitha Schumacher said. "Allie had an amazing round. What a day to have your PR."
           
Pfantz was consistent in all phases of her game, Schumacher said.
           
"She hit a lot of greens," she said. "She was striking the ball well. To start out with two birdies really helped. And she minimized mistakes."
           
Winds weren't quite as severe as they were in Saturday's round but still gusting above 15 mph.
           
"It was still a tough course," Schumacher said. "There were only two scores in the 70s. And now tomorrow it will be a completely different course because the wind is only supposed to be about 5 mph. Scores are going to be low."
           
Central remains an underdog but Schumacher is confident her squad can continue its run.
           
"Now the mindset moving forward is it doesn't matter what happened in the last two days, we've got to play well tomorrow," she said. "We need to play confidently, one shot at a time, and see what happens."