THE COLONY — When Cheyenne Knight played in the 2016 Volunteers of America Classic as an amateur, she talked about how the event would help shape her for the LPGA Tour.
Three years later, the two-time state champion from Aledo is living her dream. She has come full circle, concluding her rookie season this week at Old American Golf Club in the same tournament in which she made her LPGA debut.
Playing in front of family and friends, Knight carded rounds of 66-67. She enters Saturday's third round tied for first with Alena Sharp and Brittany Altomare.
That trio stands 9-under, one stroke clear of first-round leader Stephanie Meadow, and two shots ahead of Jaye Marie Green and Katherine Perry.
In the final full-field event of the season, many players are fighting to avoid going through qualifying again and trying to improve their status for next season. Seventeen players are within four strokes of the leaders.
Knight is among those who desperately need a good finish -- probably her first top-10 -- to avoid the qualifying series.
The knowledge she gained as an Alabama freshman playing in the VOA Classic did not prepare her for the reality of tour life, the ups and downs, the Monday qualifiers, or the pressure involved in just keeping the dream going.
"Yeah, it's been difficult," Knight said. "There's definitely been some dark places."
Knight has yet to finish higher than the T-29 of her debut. She has made nine cuts in 18 events, pocketing $71,346.
But she seems to have come to an important discovery in this long learning process. She said she came to an important realization as her first season was starting to wind down:
"I think I was trying to be someone that I'm not and like a few weeks ago I just went back to, you know, like what got me on Tour, how I played in college. I just went back to the basics, switched back to my putter I used in college. I was like, 'Play Cheyenne Knight golf, you don't need to be anyone else.'"
Ranked 120th on the money list, Knight is hoping for a top-10 finish to move inside the top 100 and be fully exempt next year.
After the VOA Classic, players outside the top 150 in earnings will compete in the LPGA Qualifying Tournament Stage II. Players ranked 101-150 go straight to Q-Series, a two-week, eight-round tournament to determine their status for next season.
But Knight has been too caught up in the emotion of playing a home game this week to put pressure on herself, saying she has nothing to lose.
"It's incredible. I know they're going to cheer for me if I make a birdie or if I make a bogey, and just having all my family and friends here, it means a lot because I don't get to play close to home very often. So just seeing them smiling and cheering me on is definitely a little advantage."
Her relaxed attitude has served her well through 36 holes.
The two-time state high school champion from Aledo matched her low round of the year with a 5-under 66 on Thursday.
Entering the second round tied for fourth, three shots behind Meadow, Knight continued her upward trend on Friday as Meadow stayed put at 8-under.
Knight birdied her first hole, No. 10, and then added birdies on the par-5 13th and the par-3 16th to flirt with the lead.
She bounced back from her bogey on 18 with birdies on the next two holes, then bogeyed No. 3. She countered that with a birdie on the par-5 No. 6, staying even with Altomare and Sharp at 9-under.
Knight has been looking forward to this week since the season started.
She matched the T-29 she carded as an amateur at the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship in late June. But she had three straight missed cuts then took a three-week break before finishing T-61 at last week's Indy Women in Tech Championship. During the break, she played a practice round at Old American. She also fixed a slight swing flaw.
"I would say I've been working really hard on like my mental game and putting things into perspective," she said. "I'm just going out there and living my dream. I think I just have more appreciation."
Briefly: Meadow couldn't maintain the dramatic pace she set in round one with her eight-birdie, no-bogey 63, but she didn't lose much ground shooting par on Friday. She is just one shot back.. ... Dori Carter posted a wild card on Thursday with nine birdies, one bogey and one double bogey. That roller-coaster 65 put in a tie for second entering round two. She kept drama to a minimum on Friday with 17 pars and one bogey for a 72. ... Inbee Park put herself in a 3-over hole on her first five holes of the tournament with a double bogey on the par-5 No. 2 and bogey on No. 5. But she rebounded with eight birdies over the final 13 holes on Thursday. She got off to a slow start on Friday, too, with a bogey on her second hole, No. 11, but then recovered with birdies on 13 and 14. She is tied for 12th at 5 under. ... Defending champion Sung Hyun Park shot a second-round 71 and is tied for 32nd . ... Brooke Henderson carded two eagles in her round of 67 and is tied for 16th.
Bill Nichols is a freelance writer in Dallas.