Duramed Futures Tour women’s professional golfer Gerina Mendoza made quite an impression Saturday in the first day of the two-day 2010 Your Charity Pro-Am at Lawrence Country Club, and the course made quite an impression on her.

Mendoza, who had never seen the course until Saturday, fired a 2-under-par 68 to take a three-stroke lead on Juli Erekson heading into today’s final round.

“The course was awesome, in really good shape,” Mendoza said. “The greens are phenomenal, fast, pure. They hold the line really well. You just pick a spot, and it does what you want it to do.”

Mendoza started with a bogey on No. 9 and did not card a score worse than par for the rest of the round, picking up three birdies.

“She hit it 300 yards all day long, center of the fairway,” LCC member Jimmy Clement said. “Her swing is absolutely beautiful.”

Mendoza, 25, ranks third on the 2010 Futures Tour money list with $22,332 in earnings. Clement predicted she’ll make a name for herself on the LPGA tour before long.

“Absolutely,” Clement said. “It doesn’t matter what sport you play, she has it, the ‘it’ factor.”

Mendoza, who didn’t start golfing until her teens, is from Roswell, N.M. She won the Conference USA title while competing for University of Texas at El Paso.

The 10 pros competing individually for a $2,300 purse also were grouped with four amateurs in the team competition, for which the two best scores of five on each hole were used. David and Michele Johnson and Jerry and Janet Magnuson, playing with pro Stephanie Connelly, lead the team competition with a score of 119.