Two years ago at this time, Ana Belac was a senior on the Duke roster, helping her Blue Devils work their way through NCAA Championship week and ultimately to the national title. Belac was a big part of Duke’s seventh NCAA trophy – its first in match play – and hasn’t looked back since charting her career as a professional.

The 24-year-old from Slovenia finished first on the Symetra Tour money list last year, which earned her LPGA membership for the 2021 season as well as a start in the U.S. Women’s Open in December. Now, she’s lurking on an LPGA leaderboard.

After rounds of 70-67 at the Pure Silk Championship, Belac is tied for second with big names Jessica Korda and Stacy Lewis. They all trail Australian Sarah Kemp by a shot at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Virginia.

This is a particularly big week for Belac considering it’s the last week before the first reshuffle of the 2021 LPGA Tour season.

“It’s in the back of my mind,” Belac said. “My ultimate goal, my life goal, is to play on the LPGA and do well here. I try not to think about it [the reshuffle] when I’m on the course and just play my game.”

2020 U.S. Women's Open

Ana Belac waits on a green during the practice round at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. (Simon Bruty/USGA)

Belac had a steady round with five birdies and a bogey. Korda, on the other hand, does what Korda does, and that’s create fireworks. She eagled the par-5 seventh and the par-5 15th.

“I just try to put myself in the right positions, and luckily I was able to have a good amount of birdie opportunities and saved a good amount of par putts,” said Korda on how her round went. “Obviously the eagles help. If you take those eagles away, I would’ve shot even par today, so eagles always help.”

Korda won the season opening Tournament of Champions in January.

As for Kemp, a second-round 67 that included six birdies helped her get to 6 under and the solo lead.

“It was great. Had a really good warmup. I just felt really good,” said Kemp who said she slept great the night before. “And sometimes you just feel like you’re going to play well, and it was one of those days. Hit some great shots. Made some putts. I didn’t miss a whole lot of fairways. Probably had under 30 putts, and that leads to 4-under.”

Paula Creamer, making her first LPGA start since October 2019 this week, fired rounds of 76-74 to miss the cut by five shots.