Following is the online diary of Susie Mathews as she competes in the NCAA Championships this week at Auburn’s Grand National Resort in Opelika, AL.

Day 3
May 19, Second Round

Susie Mathews fired a second round 69 and currently leads the tournament with a four-under par two round total of 140.

We just got back from Charlotte’s room tonight after watching “Miracle.” Just a little team bonding.

(How does an Australian view this hockey movie about a U.S. Team winning the gold.) The movie is not necessarily about the U.S. Team. It’s about where they came from: all over the country from teams that won national championships. It’s more about the process of winning the gold medal. The team won this, and they sacrificed a lot to do it. (Did she watch the Golf Channel’s College Central tonight, on which the Bruins were the lead story?) The TV doesn’t go on much here. I have three Japanese tests on Monday. It’s quite relaxing to study. It’s much more productive than watching TV. But I would have watched the show (College Central) if I had known about it.

(Today’s round) I had this goal that I was going to stay on the right level of the greens today. On the first hole (the 10th) I hit it on the wrong layer of the green and left myself with a two-tiered putt. I three-putted, but from that point I decided to resurrect my goal.

On the next hole, I hit m tee shot into the left rough and left my second shot short of the green. I got up and down for a par. My par putt was a four-foot downhill slider and it’s always good to make those early in the round.

I birdied two of the next three holes to go to one under par, and then I birdied the ninth (18th) for a 34. I don’t ever think of one nine being harder than another. I just play the holes one at a time.

I got a birdie on the 13th hole (fourth) and after that I just played solid golf — fairways and greens. I had a couple of good birdie chances on the last few holes but the putts didn’t fall.

(How does UCLA differ from Duke and Vanderbilt in playing style?) Those two teams hit the ball for long distances. We’re not the longest hitters. We get a lot of up-and-downs because we hit it shorter. We’re more accurate and we don’t get in a lot of trouble. The longer hitters generally get in more trouble off the tee.

At one point today Coach told us Duke was ready to go real low. We were just holding in. We played the last three holes in three-under par and Duke was even on those same holes. It just shows that you can’t get into a match play with your opponent because you have no idea what else is happening. It helps to stick with the game plan and play it one shot at a time.