Arkansas’ Lewis leads in Alabama

— Stacy Lewis is No. 3 in the world — and No. 1 in Alabama.

Lewis shot a 7-under-par 65 on Saturday to take a twostroke lead over Angela Stanford in the Navistar LPGA Classic, while second-round leader Lexi Thompson fell five shots behind.

Lewis is trying to complete an Alabama sweep after beating Thompson by a stroke in the Mobile Bay LPA Classic in late April. The former Arkansas star also won the ShopRite LPGA Classic in June in New Jersey.

Lewis birdied four of the first five holes in her bogeyfree round and had a 15-under 201 total on The Senator course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex.

“I think going into today I knew I needed to make birdies just the way the scores had been all day, and you don’t know if you’re ever going to start off like that,” Lewis said. “You can kind of hit it good warming up, but you never really know what you’re going to take to the course.”

She worked overtime on her putting Friday after a second-round 70.

“I wasn’t happy with the way I played the back nine yesterday,” Lewis said. “Putts weren’t going in. They were going to the edge and not going in, so I worked on some basics yesterday.”

It worked Saturday, with Lewis making birdie putts of 18 feet on No. 1, 6 feet on No. 2, 3 feet on No. 4 and 2 feet on No. 5. She missed making it five in a row when she barely missed a 10-footer on No. 3.

“I think coming back out and getting birdies on the first two holes really gave me some momentum and confidence,” she said.

Lewis made another birdie on No. 9 to make the turn at 5-under 31, then made another birdie on No. 11. She sank a 20-footer for her final birdie on No. 16.

Sports, Pages 29 on 09/23/2012

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