By DON O'BRIEN

Herald-Whig Sports Editor

EDINA, Minn. -- Emily Powers will play the weekend at the U.S. Women's Open. Unfortunately, the Quincy native won't be around for long.

Because of a weather delay, which lasted 2 1/2 hours, Powers was one of 36 golfers who will finish their second round this morning at Interlachen Country Club. She'll play four holes today to finish up her first experience in a professional golf tournament -- an LPGA major championship at that.

Powers, a two-time state champion at Quincy Notre Dame who will be a junior at Kansas in the fall, needed to go low on Friday to have any hope of making the cut after opening with an 8-over 81. She didn't get off to the start she wanted, going 4-over for her round before the rains poured down.

"It wasn't like I had a ton of bad holes," said Powers, who is at 8-over for her second round and will finish at 7 a.m. today. "It was just a bogey here and there, and the two double bogeys didn't help."

For the second straight day, Powers had a rough opening hole.

Starting on No. 10 in the next-to-last group off the tee, Powers' tee shot found the first cut of rough. Her second shot landed in the deep rough and a punch shot through trees skidded through the green and stopped on a cart path.

After getting a free drop, her chip onto the green skidded through the green. She caught a big break when her ball hit the bag of playing partner Hee Young Park and stopped on the fringe.

"I thought it might go into the water (near the green)," Powers said.

Powers chipped up to within a foot and tapped in for a bogey.

She dropped another shot on the par-3 12th hole when her tee shot landed in a greenside bunker. She blasted out to within 12 feet but slid her par chance past the hole to take bogey.

Powers ran into some bunker trouble again on No. 15. Her tee shot hit a tree and wound up in the first cut of rough. Her approach shot landed in a green-side bunker, giving her an awkward stance. With the ball at least a foot below her in the bunker, Powers' shot hit the lip of the bunker and went sideways. She blasted out to within 12 feet, but missed her bogey putt to fall to 4-over for the round and 12-over for the tournament.

"I thought about hitting (the first bunker shot) while sitting on knees. It was the perfect height," Powers said. "But I hadn't practiced that shot before and wasn't about ready to do it in the U.S. Open."

She also struggled a bit after the rain delay, three-putting the first two greens she played in making a double bogey on No. 16 and a bogey on No. 17.

She made par on four of the five holes she played on the front nine -- a bogey on the par-5 No. 2 being the exception.

--dobrien@whig.com/221-3365