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Sharp start for defending champion

Sharp, who won the championship in 2004 at Lambton Golf & Country Club and again last year at Bayview Golf & Country, says winning this week in Niagara Falls would be phenomenal confidence boost for the rest of the year.

“It would be huge for me—I’ve been struggling all year,” the seven-year LPGA Tour member says. “But today I was hitting it well and hoping to do it well again tomorrow to get on a consistent string.”

Sharp’s best finish of the year on the LPGA Tour came back in April with a T25 finish at the LPGA Lotte Championship presented by J Golf.

Jandel, who plays full time on the Symetra Tour, sits one back of Sharp after a round that included six birdies on a golf course that yielded a scoring average of 77.07 on Wednesday.

“I made a lot of birdies so it made for an exciting day that’s for sure,” Jandel says. “The greens were a lot faster than they were yesterday (during the pro-am), so it was a little surprising on the first hole, but I made a few putts and they were rolling out exactly like I wanted them to.”

LPGA Tour member Lisa Ferrero of Lodi, Calif., is at 2 under, while St. Thomas, Ont.’s, Lisa Maunu shot a 1-under par 72. Sydney Cox and 2010 champion Laura Bavaird round out the top five, with amateur Brogan McKinnon of Missassauga and Inhong Lim tied for seventh. Kim Welch, Brittany Johnston, Winnipeg’s Stacey Bieber and Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., were all 75 on Wednesday and sit T9.

Andree Lapierre of Toronto leads the Legends Division after a 5-over par 78.

With weather expected to be ideal yet again on Thursday in Niagara Falls, Ont., Sharp hopes spectators take advantage of getting up close and personal with the players for the final round.

“It’s nice to have no ropes up so the spectators can walk closer to us when we’re playing, so it’s nice to have people coming out to watch and hope more people come out tomorrow.”

The entire championship is free for spectators to attend. For directions, please CLICK HERE.