Lauren Walsh and Sara Byrne’s dreams of earning LPGA Tour cards will have to be put on hold for the time being after the Irish pair failed to make the 72-hole cut at Final Qualifying at Magnolia Grove in Alabama.
Walsh entered the fourth and penultimate round best placed of the duo after a third-round 67 saw her come charging up the leaderboard, but she needed to repeat the feat in Sunday’s fourth round. Byrne had been on the top-25 bubble until a 79 on day three sent her tumbling and left a mountain to climb.
Walsh got off to a horror start on day four, making a double bogey on the par-4 first hole at the Falls Course, and dropped another three with consecutive bogeys on seven, eight and nine. A mini-rally saw her claw back strokes with birdies on 10, 12 and 13 with a bogey thrown in on 11, but it was too-little, too-late and her 72-hole +4 score left her two shots outside the cutline.
Byrne salvaged some pride after the disappointment of Saturday and closed out with a level-par 72 that was six shots too many, but the freshly-minted professional can take solace with the fact that she earned Category C membership for the Epson Tour – the LPGA’s official feeder tour – next season.
Walsh also has Category C membership on the Epson Tour and full status on the LET, and she may opt to base herself in the United States and attempt to follow in Leona Maguire’s footsteps as the Cavan woman earned her LPGA card thanks to two victories on the Epson Tour – then called the Symetra Tour – back in 2019.
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