Kill golfer Walsh secures LPGA Tour Card for 2026

Kill golfer Lauren Walsh has become just the third Irish player to earn a full-time LPGA Tour Card. She marked her card for 2026 thanks to a superb final round at the Q-Series Final at Magnolia Grove Golf Course in Mobile, Alabama, USA.

Walsh went into the final round outside of the top 25 and with ground to make up if she was going to secure her place on the lucrative US tour – a circuit which next year features 33 events with prize money of $132 million.

But superb final round of 67 culminated with two birdies in the final three holes saw the Kildare golfer finish in tenth place overall.

There has been an overwhelming reaction to Lauren’s achievement: "I don't think my phone's ever blown up this much in my life," Walsh said. 

"I felt like every time I was going in there was another 50 notifications popping up, you know, not just for me, but I know my parents' phones have been blowing up as well. 

"Family, friends, neighbours - everybody's reaching out from all over the country and all over the world too, so yeah, it's so special to kind of feel all that support."

Walsh says her competitive nature began before she ever picked up a golf club: "I played a lot of camogie and football growing up (for Kill), that was kind of my first love in sport," Walsh said. 

"I was super competitive in that, and I feel like I have to credit my sister for a lot of it. She kind of introduced me to golf; I tagged along with her and her friends, and anything Claudia did, I wanted to do better. So we both got into golf, got to practicing together, and it was great to always have that growing up - there was always competitiveness between us.

"We both went out on the Irish circuit and played inter-pros together, and then I went on to play for Ireland, and got a lot of incredible opportunities through that. I guess once I started playing for Ireland, it was going to be golf, the other sports faded away a little bit. I got a couple injuries that kind of almost led me into playing a bit more full-time golf."

The player who spent her amateur years at Castlewarden Golf Club in Straffan began her sporting life will now join the best golfers in the world, including Cavan’s Leona Maguire who, like Walsh, is coached by Shane O’Grady. Her LPGA Tour season is set to start in March with the Blue Bay tournament in China. 

Having played 26 tournaments in 2025 across 17 different countries, Walsh is unphased by the prospect. "Golf courses will be different, but golf is the same, my 14 clubs are the same," she said. "I'm sure I'll face different challenges, but, you know, I'm just I'm just excited to get out there and compete."

Before that, Walsh will return to playing on the Ladies European Tour (LET) with the Saudi Open in February. The Kildare golfer has spent the past two seasons on the LET having joined the professional ranks after a stellar amateur career including two Curtis Cup appearances and a strong collegiate career at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. 

“The last two years I have learned so much, not just about my golf game but also how to manage life as a professional golfer. There is a lot more than goes into it. You jump from college and amateur golf where a lot of the stuff is organised for you and then you're out on your own; you’ve to plan your own travel, book your own flights, organise all of that yourself.

“I got to travel the world and figure out how to work on jet lag and figure out the different style golf courses and that can only benefit me moving forward."