Wilmington, NC– The Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour headed to the Country Club of Landfall for the second round of the sixteenth edition of its most prestigious championship: the PKBGT Invitational.
“Moving day” at the PKBGT Invitational got underway at 8:30 AM with players looking to make a move inside the cutline and position themselves for Monday’s final round. At the completion of the second round, the tournament field would be reduced to the top 31 & ties. It was a picturesque day in Wilmington, setting up excellent scoring conditions for players to make their move!
Grace Ridenour (Raleigh, NC 2025) entered Sunday’s round with a three shot lead after her opening 70 (-2). Despite the difficult conditions the day prior, Ridenour made six birdies. Today’s round was more level, after her first 15 holes she had recorded a lone birdie, a bogey, and 13 pars to hold a two stroke lead. She would then birdie the sixteenth hole and, after reaching the par-5 green in two shots, made a tap-in birdie on the eighteenth to grow her lead to four.
Despite 10 top-ten finishes in her Bell National career, Ridenour has yet to record her first PKBGT Bell National victory setting the stage for her to accomplish the feat in the most prestigious event of all!
While Ridenour holds a strong lead, anything is possible and her competitors will aim to come out hot and apply some early pressure to her lead. Her closest trailer is Riley Grimm (Pinehurst, NC 2028), who casually fired the round of the tournament!
Grimm birdied seven of her first ten holes including a run of four consecutive on holes #3-6! She would pick up another birdie on the par-4 15th on her way to a round of 67 (-5) placing her in second place. Grimm is no newcomer to the PKBGT Invitational following her runner-up finish a year ago. Her quest for redemption did not get off to the start she envisioned with a triple bogey on her first hole yesterday. Since then, Grimm has played the next 35 holes in three under and has placed herself in the perfect spot to come from behind tomorrow!
Jenna Kim (Raleigh, NC 2027) entered the day in third place and remains in solo third after her steady round today. She made one birdie, two birdies, and 15 pars during her round positioning herself to make a Monday charge! Rounding out the top-5 through 36 holes are Zoe Cusack (Potomac, MD 2026) & Lillian Guleserian (Westwood, MA 2025). Cusack, the 2024 Spring Bell Invitational champion, made five birdies today in her round of 71 (-1) while Guleserian made four birdies of her own. The pair sit tied at 148 (+4) and eight strokes behind Ridenour.
The final round of the 16th PKBGT Invitational will begin tomorrow at 9:00 AM in a shotgun start. We’re excited to see what the final round has in store at the 16th PKBGT Invitational ! You can follow the live leaderboard tomorrow at the link below!