SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. — Ingrid Lindblad made history Thursday, shooting the lowest round by an amateur in U.S. Women’s Open history with a six-under par 65 at Pine Needles Golf Club. But could she back it up on Friday, when the expectations were higher and more people were watching?

The spotlight shone even brighter with 72-time LPGA Tour winner Annika Sorenstam making her first major start in 14 years and playing in Lindblad’s group. There were also World No. 1 Jin Young Ko and American stalwart Lexi Thompson playing in the group in front of her.

None of it phased the Swede as she followed through Friday with a steady-handed even-par round to sit three shots off the lead, held by Minjee Lee and Mina Harigae at nine-under par. Her 136 strokes through two rounds set the 36-hole amateur scoring record.

“Yesterday I don’t think I ever realized what happened,” Lindblad said. “It was just when I got back to the hotel, I’m like, well, this is pretty good. I don’t think I realize how big it is. It’s like whenever you come to a big amateur tournament, like when I played Augusta for the first time last year, I was like, I didn’t realize how big this is until you get there and all the attention you get.”

When Lindblad returned to the hotel from her opening round Thursday, her phone lit up with messages. The LSU junior appreciated the recognition, but she didn’t want to let it distract her so she turned off her notifications. One text, however, stood out from the rest. Her assistant coach, Alexis Rather, a motherlike figure for the No. 2 amateur in the world, reminded her of her ability.

“You’ve put a lot of work into this,” Lindblad explained while tearing up, “a lot of hours. She’s, like, ‘I’m not surprised you’re there.’”

A record setting swing 🏌️‍♀️

Amateur @iingridlindblad starts her round now at the @uswomensopen. pic.twitter.com/E9Kz8s8Cpx

— LPGA (@LPGA) June 3, 2022

Feeling confident off the tee Friday, Lindblad birdied the par 5 at Pine Needles just as she did on Thursday. From there, the 22-year-old made par after par, not matching the seven-birdie effort she put together in the first round but remaining in the hunt. She posted 31 putts in her second round, five more than Thursday.

“She didn’t have, obviously, the game that she had yesterday,” said Lindblad’s caddie, five-time LPGA winner Sophie Gustafson. “I mean, it was a little wayward and we had to get it up and down quite a few times. She never said, ‘Oh s–t, I missed it.’ She just said, ‘Oh well,’ and moved on.”

With electronic leaderboards on display around Pine Needles, Lindlblad tried not to check them during her round. And with stars playing in and around her group Friday, she didn’t get many cheers. The first one for her came after she walked out of the restroom on the 12th hole.

“I feel like I played good, but no one said that to me,” Lindblad said. “You just have to focus on yourself and your own game and not get too distracted by other things.”

She also had to balance other responsibilities off the course following her second round. Lindblad had to take a quiz and submit questions for her summer sports law class on Title IX and ADA. She requested an extension from her professor, but if she can’t update it, she’ll end up with a 37 out of 38. The grade is similar to Sorenstam’s evaluation of the amateur’s performance so far this week.

“It was a terrific round yesterday and today,” Sorenstam said. “What she did today I thought was maybe not equally as impressive, but it’s impressive to be able to hold it the way she did. She has a great attitude, and I told her, ‘I hope you are just enjoying this.’ I’m sure she will be in this spot a few times.

“Enjoy it. Trust yourself for the weekend. You have it.”

On Saturday, Lindlblad will play alongside Ko, the world No. 1, two tee times ahead of the final pairing. The four-time amateur tournament winner in 2022 enters the third round with an opportunity to make history. If Lindblad hoists the Harton S. Semple trophy on Sunday, she will become the first amateur to win the U.S. Women’s Open since Catherine Lacoste at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Va., in 1967.

But even if Lindblad comes up short in the end, her historic opening 36-hole performance showed what her future holds on the LPGA Tour.

“For Ingrid to have that experience and perform well in that opportunity,” said Golf Channel commentator Kay Cockerill, who followed Lindblad on Friday, “is a memory for her to call upon for years and years.”

Kent Paisley is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering golf and the LPGA. He also contributes to Golf Digest. Follow him on Twitter @KentPaisley.

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun!

Every week on Sports Are Fun! presented by Amazon Business, co-hosts soccer legend Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, and JWS intern BJ serve up their hottest takes on the biggest women's sports headlines.

This week, the Sports Are Fun! team is joined on the couch by hit women's soccer-focused social media and podcast duo Alanna Locast and Shannon Fay of SoccerGrlProbs to talk — what else? — the state of head coach Emma Hayes's ever-evolving USWNT.

Firstly, they get to work hashing out the US national team's 3-0 win over China PR — and which USWNT player they think has a shot to make the 2027 World Cup roster.

"We're going to start with women's national team winning 3-0 against China on Saturday," O'Hara introduces. "They won with goals from Cat Macario, Sam Coffey, and Lindsey Heaps — not
Horan, I'm starting to get that right."

"It's not a major tournament year, so this is just a friendly," she continues. "I'm curious if anybody has initial thoughts from this game?"

"It's very fun to see the unpredictability watching them play," says Locast. "We've seen the style that the US plays and you expect where certain players are going to be. I'm watching, and the creativity and just how unpredictable they are, I would not want to mark those three forwards."

"I agree," says O'Hara. "It's very clear that Emma is laying the foundation in a way that everybody understands what their total shape should look like at any point during the game, not just where they specifically should be. Which I think is a really important part of the evolution of the team."

"It's fun to watch. The player pool is so deep now," echos Fay. "I know she wants to have an idea on the team by June, so what's going to happen? I don't know."

Along with the recently USWNT friendlies, the Sports Are Fun! crew also tackles NCAA softball's Women's College World Series, US stars dominated the French Open, the recent Grand Slam Track event, and so much more.

'Sports Are Fun!' intern BJ digs up a spicy Pride month throwback

Before the Sports Are Fun! regulars get into all things USWNT, however, intern BJ gifts everyone a very special throwback social media clip in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride month.

"You guys, I want to say happy Pride month," BJ says to the group. "Specifically happy Pride month to Kelley, because a listener DM'd me yesterday and shared a fun little memory of Abby Wambach and Sydney Leroux on the US national team a couple years ago..."

"This wasn't a couple years ago!" says O'Hara, squirming. "This was 10 years ago."

"You know what? I was being generous," quipped BJ. "But it's y'all checking a coach of another team."

"Wooow, Kelley," laughs Diaz.

"For those who are listening, it's a series of gifs of Abby, Kelley, and Sydney Leroux. And the coach walks by and they're like, 'She's kind of hot,'" BJ says as the crew cracks up. "They're full, like, dogs are barking."

"Oh my God," laughs O'Hara. "I've seen this before pop up on the socials. And I didn't remember this happening, but then when it came up again, obviously this did happen. And I do think that is what we were saying. I'd need to call Abby to confirm."

"You don't need to call anyone, because your lips are saying exactly those words," says Locast.

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place.

Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.

The world No. 1 USWNT is gearing up to take on No. 40 Jamaica on Tuesday night, capping the two-friendly international break with a match spotlighting both the past and future of the program.

After opening the stretch with a 3-0 Saturday win over No. 17 China PR in St. Paul, Minnesota, major roster rotations are expected in St. Louis, Missouri, on Tuesday as US head coach Emma Hayes continues evaluating fresh and familiar on-field combos.

"I want to make sure that, whether you start, whether you come into the game [off the bench], it shouldn't alter our level," Hayes told media this week. "If anything, we should keep finding other levels in us."

Plenty of young firepower will feature on Tuesday's pitch, but the clash will also celebrate a recently retired USWNT great.

Two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, and St. Louis product Becky Sauerbrunn will take center stage, with Energizer Park even doling out bobbleheads in the standout center back's likeness.

"I've got a locker room — not just the senior players, but less experienced players — that talk about [Sauerbrunn] in the highest esteem, both as a leader and as a human being," said Hayes of the longtime USWNT captain. "I don't think you could want anything more than that in life, to have people talk about you like that."

How to watch the USWNT vs. Jamaica friendly on Tuesday

The USWNT will take on the Reggae Girlz at 8 PM ET on Tuesday in St. Louis, Missouri, with live coverage on TNT.

The WNBA Commissioner's Cup is back with its 2025 edition, as the annual in-season tournament raises both stakes and incentives across the league.

Winning percentage, point differential, and head-to-head records all factor in as both Eastern and Western Conference teams battle it out for a shot at the competition's $500,000 prize pool.

Launched in 2021, the Commissioner’s Cup runs concurrently with the regular season, drawing on in-conference matchups to build a team's overall Cup record.

The 2025 competition opened on June 1st, tipping off three straight weeks of conference play that will culminate in a July 1st championship final between the Eastern and Western Conference winners.

Last season's final foreshadowed the eventual WNBA Finals, as the Minnesota Lynx topped New York to lift the 2024 Commissioner's Cup before the Liberty enacted revenge by taking the 2024 Championship a few months later.

Hoping to lift both trophies this season, New York started the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup party with a 48-point statement win over the Connecticut Sun last Sunday.

How to watch Tuesday's 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup games

Every WNBA game on Tuesday will have Cup stakes, starting with the Washington Mystics' visit to the Indiana Fever at 7 PM ET on NBATV.

Then at 8 PM ET, the Minnesota Lynx will host the Phoenix Mercury, airing on ESPN3, before the Dallas Wings close out Tuesday's slate in Seattle against the Storm at 9:30 PM ET on ESPN.

With injuries mounting across the WNBA, several teams have started stocking up on recently waived free agents, bolstering their depleted rosters with hardship signings as they head into a busy stretch of the 2025 regular season.

With both guard Kahleah Copper and forward Alyssa Thomas sidelined, the Phoenix Mercury signed former Atlanta Dream guard and 2023 first-round draft pick Haley Jones to a rest-of-season hardship contract on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Fever picked up ex-LA Sparks guard and 2021 first-rounder Aari McDonald on Sunday, with Indiana looking to boost their backcourt depth in light of injuries to guards Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and Sydney Colson.

These hardship signings come in clutch to keep benches stocked and WNBA teams in action.

However, the longevity of these early-season additions remains uncertain as teams attempt to balance league-maximum 12-player lineups with restrictive salary caps.

Hardship contracts allow teams to temporarily expand the salary cap, but when injured players return, so do tough roster calls — much to the dismay of front office decision-makers.

"More bodies would be good," Fever president Kelly Krauskopf told reporters with a wry laugh ahead of McDonald's signing.

Roster limitations will likely be a key issue when CBA negotiations rev up, with this week's emergency signings only adding fuel to the fire.