Mina Hardin is motivated to defend her title.
"Absolutely. It would be terrific," she said after trouncing an ill Brenda Pictor, 5 and 4, in the third-round match.
Against Pictor, Hardin fell into a rhythm with her irons. She mentioned that in her morning victory she had been "a click off."
Pictor battled a queasy stomach after eating lunch during the break between matches. She fought it off as much as she could, but it affected her concentration. "I was disappointed I didn't give her more of a match," said Pictor, who knocked off seven-time USGA champion Carol Semple Thompson in the morning.
Hardin won three of the first five holes and five of the first nine. It was too deep of a hole for Pictor to climb out. Hardin pushed the lead to 6 up after the 12th hole, a hole that Pictor conceded when she needed four shots to reach the green on the par-4 hole. Pictor won the 13th hole with a birdie. She stiffed her approach shot to 3 1/2 feet and made the birdie putt. But by that point, Hardin's lead was insurmountable.
"One shot at a time," said Hardin when asked what went through her mind with such a large lead. "Don't put the carriage in front of the horses."
Hardin will face Susan Rheney in the quarterfinals - clicking on all cyclinders.