Dewi Weber has a chip on her shoulder this week.

Weber was one of three Dutch golfers who qualified for the Olympics via Official World Golf Rankings and Rolex Rankings, but the Netherlands Olympic Committee declined to send them to the Paris Games, citing extra qualifying rules. The federation claimed that Weber, Joost Luiten and Darius van Driel had “no reasonable chance of a top 8 ranking in the Olympic Games” because neither were ranked in the top 100 in the world or had earned a high enough finish in a sanctioned tournament in the lead up to the games. This is despite every other country using the agreed-upon qualification system of taking the top two ranked golfers from each country and up to four if they were all ranked in the top 15.

Instead, the federation sent just five-time Ladies European Tour winner and 113th-ranked golfer Anne Van Dam.

But this week, in the LPGA’s Portland Classic, Weber is showing how wrong those extra rules were for golf.

The world’s 336th-ranked golfer is the best player in the field through two rounds at Columbia Edgewater after a sparkling, bogey-free 62 Friday in the second round. At 16 under, she holds a two-shot lead over Andrea Lee. She’s three ahead of India’s Aditi Ashok, who is in the field for next week’s Olympic Women’s competition, which begins Wednesday at Le Golf National.

The way she views it, Dewi Weber should not be at the Portland Classic this week. The Dutchwoman qualified for the Olympics under the IOC standards, and with the women's golf competition starting on Aug. 7, all but one LPGA Olympian is not playing at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.

Instead, thanks to the Netherlands Olympic Committee's additional criteria, Weber was deemed not good enough to have a chance for a top-eight finish in the Games. Her own country decided against sending her to Paris.

Weber's opening 36 holes is a resounding counterargument to the Dutch standards. The World No. 336 posted back-to-back rounds with seven consecutive birdies and opened 66-62. Her career-best 10-under round Friday had Weber walk off the course with the first 36-hole lead of her career, ahead by two strokes at 16 under. In her post-round interview. She remained defiant about her homeland's decision.

Weber, who is one shot back at the Portland Classic, was one of three players who the Netherlands Olympic Committee prevented from going to Paris 2024

Weber was among three Dutch golfers who the Netherlands Olympic Committee prevented from competing at Paris 2024 due to - in their opinion - “having no reasonable chance” of a top-eight finish.

Darius van Driel and Joost Luiten - who took his fight to court and was initially successful - were the other players due to compete at Le Golf National this Olympic cycle, but none of them were included in the final 60-golfer fields.

Speaking to Golf Digest about the issue at the time, Weber said: “Our own country is saying we don't think you're worthy of being an Olympian, and you're not worthy of representing the Netherlands. And that, honestly, that hurts.”

However, ahead of the women's Olympic event next week, Weber is currently in an excellent position to secure her first LPGA Tour title at the Portland Classic and show the NOC that they might have made a costly mistake.

The World No.336 is on -18 at Columbia Edgewater's Macan Course in Oregon and just a single stroke back of the USA's Andrea Lee following a quiet two-under round on Saturday.

It was a birdiefest in Round 3 of the Portland Classic that saw 2022 champion @andrea_lee54 rise above the crowd 🐣@adam_stanley has everything you need to know in LPGA Now 👇 https://t.co/z6NrWUGiLjAugust 4, 2024

Weber blasted an incredible round of 62 on Friday to set up her contending role - something of a surprise given her only other LPGA Tour start this season saw her finish T52 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

She will now attempt to beat Anne Van Dam - the only golfer the NOC did send to Paris - in becoming the first woman from the Netherlands to win an LPGA Tour title.

Subscribe to the Golf Monthly newsletter to stay up to date with all the latest tour news, equipment news, reviews, head-to-heads and buyer’s guides from our team of experienced experts.

Weber said: “That's been the goal, to be the first and I'm like in this race with Anne, of course.

“I think it's maybe in the back of your mind always. It's almost like the Olympics. Like, yes, it's there, but not really.

“You can't be thinking about any of the results honestly when you're out here playing. You just got to play golf and see where you land at the end of it.”

Anne van Dam

Having graduated from the University of Miami and turned pro in 2019, Weber is still looking for her first pro success anywhere and believes there is no reason why it could not occur among the toughest fields anywhere in women's golf.

Weber said: “I mean, that's why I'm here. That's why I'm here. Like we play to win. I think any one of us is playing out here to win. Yeah, it means everything.

“The fact that this is only my second [LPGA Tour] event this year, in my mind, doesn't at least play a role. I don't know, every event I tee it up I try to win.

“I'm not expecting to win, but like I try the best I can do. So, yeah, I think be really cool. Like, yeah, be cool to win any event.”

Weber, an Epson Tour member playing in just her second LPGA tournament in 2024, has 17 birdies and one bogey so far this week.

She was asked about the Olympics after her round, about whether not being in Paris has been on her mind.

“Not much,” she said. “Like, I can tell that, yea, I’m trying to make a statement here. Not much. I’m just trying to play golf.”

After a similar follow-up question, Weber said, “I’m disappointed obviously, but it’s a chapter that for me I’ve closed. Listen, if I win on Sunday, like I think that would make a statement obviously, but it’s not as if I’m trying to play here to make a point. The point I’m trying to make is that I’m a good golfer and good enough to be on the LPGA Tour, because I’ve been on Epson this entire year. So that’s more the point I’m trying to make I guess for myself, than, ‘See, look, I should’ve been at the Olympics.'”

A shot back on the leaderboard is Andrea Lee, who posted a 9-under 63 to hold the clubhouse lead for a while Friday. Playing the back nine first, Lee had a birdies streak of her own – six straight – on Nos. 11-16 and made the turn in 30.

“It means my game is in the right place,” she said of her first-nine birdie run. “I wasn’t even really thinking about the birdie streak to be honest. I was so focused. Then I think I chipped it in on 16 and that was my sixth birdie in a row and I was like, my gosh. So it was a pretty cool run.”

Lee, the 2022 champion of this event, tied for third at the U.S. Women’s Open in May but has a missed cut, a solo 62nd and a tie for 45th since then. Overall this season, though, Lee has four top-20s and she’s 23rd in the Race to CME points standings. She’s also seventh in Solheim Cup points.

Polly Mack, who led after Day 1, shot 67 late in the day to get to 14 under and is tied with Lee, two shots back of the lead. Jenny Shin and Grace Kim are tied for fourth at 13 under.

Last week’s winner, Lauren Coughlin, is tied for 18th at 9 under. Last year’s Portland Classic champ, Chanettee Wannasaen, is tied for is tied for 42nd at 6 under.

After this event, the LPGA pauses for the Olympic Games, with the women’s competition starting Wednesday, Aug. 7.