The second round of stroke play at the 2011 Women's Mid-Amateur was suspended at 6:58 p.m. due to darkness. As the situation was deemed non-dangerous, players were allowed to finish the hole they were playing before leaving the club for the night.

Play will resume at 8 a.m. Monday, followed by the match-play cut, a playoff (if needed) and the first round of match play.

42 out of 131 players were able to finish their second rounds, including first-round leader Brenda Pictor, 56, of Marietta, Ga. Pictor stuck her 80-yard approach to the par-5 18th to 1 foot for birdie, and she finished with an overall score of 2-over 146.

VIRIGINA BEACH, Virg. (Sept. 18, 2011) – Brenda Pictor, 56, of Marietta, Ga., shot an even-par 72 to take a one-stroke lead following the weather-delayed first round of stroke-play qualifying at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, being conducted at 6,187-yard, par-72 Bayville Golf Club in Virginia Beach, Va.

Heavy rain and strong wind necessitated a suspension of play at 12:45 p.m. Saturday, and the round was ultimately postponed later that afternoon. Play resumed at 7:55 a.m. Sunday.

Pictor, who reached the semifinals at the 2009 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, was among the 59 players whose first rounds were delayed until Sunday due to Saturday’s unplayable course conditions. She carded two birdies and two bogeys during her steady opening round.

“It was just fairways and greens,” said Pictor, the runner-up at the 2011 North & South Senior Women’s Amateur and the champion in 2010. “When I did miss a green, I was able to get up and down a few times. It was just a very nice, easy round.”

While rain was not a factor on Sunday morning, gusts of up to 30 miles per hour buffeted the players. Pictor, however, was unfazed by the winds.

“I hit some really good shots today into the wind,” said Pictor. “I was able to get around and stay steady.”

Virginia Grimes, 47, of Meridian, Miss., the 1998 Women’s Mid-Amateur winner, was one stroke behind Pictor at 1-over 73, while Leigh Klasse, 51, of St. Anthony, Minn., and Tara Joy-Connelly, 38, of Pembroke, Mass., followed at 2-over 74.

Klasse was 1-over par after 13 holes when play was suspended on Saturday. When play resumed Sunday morning, she promptly made a double-bogey on the par-4 14th.

A birdie at the par-5 18th capped an otherwise steady round for Klasse, especially considering Saturday’s adverse conditions.

“When it’s wet like that, like yesterday, bogey is good,” said Klasse, who reached the round of 16 at last week’s USGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn. “I was lucky – I got up and down a few times instead of getting a bogey.”

Defending champion Meghan Stasi, 33, of Oakland Park, Fla., opened her bid for a fourth Women’s Mid-Amateur title with a 5-over 77. Virginia Beach resident Carol Robertson, 28, finished her interrupted round at 3-over 75. Robertson, who was the runner-up to Stasi in 2010, is the head women’s golf coach at nearby Old Dominion University.

The second round of stroke play began at 1:30 p.m., and will not be finished until Monday. After the round is completed, the field will be reduced to 64 players for the first round of match play, which will begin Monday afternoon. The second and third rounds will be played Tuesday, the quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be played Wednesday, and the 18-hole championship final will be played Thursday.