July 21 (Reuters) - American Brittany Lincicome fired an eagle on the penultimate hole and hit a one-under 71 but failed to become only the second woman to make the cut in a men’s event at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky on Saturday.
A six-over-par 78 in her first round on Thursday proved too big a handicap to overcome as the LPGA player finished 36 holes at five-over, on 149, well off the projected cut of four-under, according to PGATour.com. Only one woman has made the 36-hole cut in a men’s event — Babe Zaharias in 1945.
But despite being 20 stokes behind second-round leader Troy Merritt in the weather-hit tournament, the long-hitting Lincicome had to be pleased with her improved play in her delayed second round at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Along with her eagle, holing from 116 yards out at the par five 17th, Lincicome delivered five birdies and six bogeys after waiting a day to play her second round because of rain.
After a slow start with bogeys at the fourth and fifth holes, the eight-times LPGA Tour winner strung together three consecutive birdies from the sixth.
She moved to two-under with another birdie at the 10th before suffering another bogey at 11.
The sixth woman to compete against the men — and the first since Michelle Wie in 2008 — Lincicome pulled a stroke back with her fifth birdie at the par-five 14 but dropped to even par with consecutive bogeys.
Then came the big eagle before she signed off with another, anti-climactic bogey. (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Neville Dalton)