The long holes at Eagle Bend Golf Course didn’t phase Carol Rau on Saturday.

The Lawrence resident used her distance to stay in the race of the women’s city championship of the 2006 LAGA Big Event. She shot 85 and tied two other women who are one stroke behind the leader, Suzanne Hutchens.

Rau, 35, especially utilized her power on the par-4 seventh hole, which ranked as the toughest hole on the golf course on the scorecard. The three other women in her group – Hutchens, Bobette Puderbaugh and Sidney Garrett – couldn’t get the ball on the green in two. They actually said they viewed the hole as more of a par 5.

Rau, the defending women’s city champion, had other plans. She positioned herself safely on the fairway with a long shot from her driver. Rau needed a 3-wood to muscle it to the green. Normally coolheaded on the course, even Rau showed emotion after the shot. She jumped straight up in the air, as if trying to help the ball travel far enough to hit the green.

“I knew I had to hit a big drive, and I happened to hit a good one that time,” Rau said. “There are a few holes out here that you know you’ve got to hit a good shot, and that’s one of those holes.”

Despite being one stroke off the lead, Rau said there were areas of her game that needed improvement for Sunday’s final round at Alvamar Golf and Country Club.

“I’ve got to keep the ball in play off the tee,” Rau said. “If it takes hitting a 3-iron, that’s what I’ll do. And that’s what I had to do today. I had to put the driver away.”

Rau hit two tee shots out of bounds Saturday. She actually held the lead on the last hole, but triple bogeyed it, dropping her to a tie for second place.

“All I was thinking on the tee box was just hit it in play,” Rau said. “And then I hit it out of bounds.”

Rau will try to better use her game management, which she said was the strongest part of her game, for today’s round.

“I really look at each shot for what it is,” Rau said. “I focus on just that shot. I don’t think about what the last hole was or what the next hole is.”

The other three women in the group have played golf with Rau numerous times at Lawrence Country Club. Garrett said she was used to Rau’s levelheaded attitude.

“She has a very even temperament, and she’s always very positive and calm,” Garett said.

Sunday’s showdown between the four golfers – specifically Rau and Hutchens – has history. During last year’s women’s city championship, which was only one round, the two shot 78. Rau defeated Hutchens in a playoff.