ROCKLAND — After sinking a three-foot putt to birdie the 12th hole Tuesday, Jordan Laplume turned to her father and caddie, George Laplume, and smiled. Laplume, 17, had just had a first.

“I said, ‘I’ve never had back-to-back birdies.’ In my life,” Laplume said. “That was the first time ever so that was super exciting. I was really hyped up about that.”

At the time the birdies on holes 11 and 12 gave Laplume a three-stroke lead over Bailey Plourde in the Maine Women’s Amateur.

But three Laplume bogeys over the final five holes tightened the leaderboard, and Laplume, a recent Thornton Academy graduate, will enter Wednesday’s final round at Rockland Golf Club at plus-7, one stroke ahead of the 18-year-old Plourde.

They’ll be joined in the final group by 13-year-old Ruby Haylock of Hartford, who sits five shots off the lead at plus-12. They will tee off at 10:50 a.m.

“I don’t think I played the best. I played much better on the front,” Laplume said. “I scored the same (as Monday’s first round) but I hit the ball a little bit better.”

Laplume and Plourde began the day tied at 3 over and remained tied through nine holes. Plourde’s par putt on the seventh lipped the cup and stayed out, and she also missed a par putt on No. 8.

Struggles on the green marked Plourde’s round.

“I couldn’t find the speed of the greens. I couldn’t make any putts. It was tough,” Plourde said.

“I felt like I was hitting the ball OK. Some drives got away from me but the putting was a struggle.”

Laplume took the lead when Plourde bogeyed the 10th hole. With her birdies on 11 and 12, Laplume increased her lead to three strokes.

Laplume bogeyed No. 14 to give back a stroke, then ran into her toughest hole on the 15th. At 524 yards, the par-5 hole is the longest on the course.

Laplume pulled her tee shot well left of the fairway, almost landing on the cart path separating the 15th hole from the 14th. After chipping onto the fairway, Laplume’s third shot was a hard ground ball to approach the green.

Laplume salvaged a bogey and with Plourde’s putting woes continuing, maintained her two-shot lead.

“I had one of my worst swings of the day, definitely, but I lucked out. I stayed short of the hazard and I just wanted to play it safe,” Laplume said.

“I didn’t want to do anything stupid. I just wanted to get up and down, and make no worse than a bogey. I wanted to avoid a double (bogey).”

Plourde cut Laplume’s lead to one stroke with a par on No. 18 but missed a great chance to tie for the lead when her 20-foot birdie putt stopped inches short.

“The putt on the last hole, I left that a couple inches short. That was kind of my day,” Plourde said. “Either lipping it out, leaving it short, something.”

Carolyn Langevin began the day three shots behind Laplume and Plourde but struggled. She finished the day in seventh place at plus-18 overall.

Plourde was the runner-up in this event each of the last two years. Being close to the leader is a familiar spot for Plourde, but with three-time defending tournament champion Staci Creech not in the field this year after relocating to Colorado, the tournament feels more wide open.

“I’ve just got to focus on my own game. Today I kind of felt like I was focusing on the other two instead of my own,” Plourde said. “I tend to worry about what others are doing instead of myself. I have to trust my own swing.”

Although just one year younger than Plourde, Laplume said she looks at her playing partner as a role model. Laplume said that she’s excited to play the final round Wednesday with Plourde.

“(Ploude’s) always been so talented,” Laplume said. “If she plays good, I knew I was going to play good.”

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