Late surge sees Kildare’s Walsh in contention to make Irish Open cut

Kildare professional golfer, Lauren Walsh, had a day of mixed emotions and mixed scoring in Round 1 of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open at the K Club on Thursday.

The Castlewarden golfer, in her rookie LPGA year, shot pars, birdies, bogies, double and triple bogies to finish on +2 for her first round, a full gamut of golfing scores on a drearily wet day at the Kildare venue.

After posting bogies at 3 and 5, Walsh went on to post a double bogie at the Par 4 ninth hole to go through the first nine on 39, three over par. She also posted five pars and a birdie at the Par 3 second hole.

The Kildare woman started the back nine in a positive fashion with another birdie at the Par 5 tenth and continued with pars on Eleven and Twelve however disaster struck on the Par 4 13th hole when the Kill native hit a triple bogey seven. The more she tried at that hole the more Walsh became frustrated and she cut a disconsolate figure as she stood over the tee box for the 14th hole. However, the 26-year-old showed all her strength and composure in the final run in. A par on that 14th was followed by birdies on 15 and 16 as the smile reappeared on the Kildare golfer’s face. Walsh closed out her round with par on 17 and a superb birdie on the final hole to finish on a total of 74, three over par for the day and tied 69th and plus two for the tournament.

Plus two is expected to be the cut for the final two days so Lauren Walsh will be anxious to display the kind of for form she displayed on the final run in to ensure participation in the tournament on Saturday and Sunday.

South African, Casandra Alexander, one of Walsh’s playing partners, leads the field after a superb round of 63 which included nine birdies to give her a four-stroke lead. Best of the Irish is Clare’s Áine Donegan on 69 and is tied ninth while Cavan’s Leona Maguire, the Touring Professional at the K Club, is two shots further back on 71 and tied 20th.

Lauren Walsh will tee off on Round 2, along with leader Alexander, from the 10th hole at 8.18am on Friday morning.