Anna Foster and Sara Byrne were among three Irish women making their debuts as full, card-carrying LET members in the Lalla Meryem Cup at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco, and the two fledgling professionals are off to fast starts and both sit inside the top 14 after day one.
Foster was the first of the five Irish to get underway and wasted little time in getting into red figures thanks to a birdie on two. Two more followed at nine and 11 before her only dropped shot of the day on 13. She battled her way back to -3 thanks to a birdie on the par-3 17th, and rounded out with a par for a very impressive three-under 70 that leaves her tied for seventh, three off the lead.
Byrne had the pleasure of seasoned LET campaigner Olivia Mehaffey for company when they teed off 20 minutes after Foster but on the 10th. It was an up and down day for the Dromoland Castle touring pro who birdied three of her opening six holes but dropped shots on 11, 17 and 18 to make the turn at level-par.
Another three birdies in the first five on the front side brought her level with Foster and eyeing the top of the leaderboard, but a dropped shot on the seventh put the brakes on somewhat and she signed for a two-under 71.
Annabel Wilson was the other Irish player making her first start as a tour member, and a bogey-bogey start was far from what she’d imagined. Two more bogeys and a solitary birdie saw her turn at +3, and she dropped another shot on the first hole on the front side before catching fire and reeling off four birdies in a five-hole stretch from four through eight to get back to level-par.
Sadly, a double bogey on the last will have left a sour taste in her mouth, and she joins Mehaffey and Lauren Walsh on +2, with the latter dropping three shots in her closing three holes thanks to a double bogey on 16 and a bogey on 18.
American Brianna Navarrosa set the early pace with a six-under 67 that featured six birdies, an eagle and two bogeys, and she enjoys a one-stroke lead over Swede Kajsa Arwefjall and Spaniard Ana Pelaez Trivino.
Navarrosa, like Foster, Byrne and Wilson, earned her playing rights at Q-School and could scarcely have envisioned a better start to her LET career.
Arwefjall too is an LET rookie, although she played her way onto the tour via the LET Access Series, winning the Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year titles last season.
Among the trio tied for fourth at -4 is Austrian Sarah Schober who recorded the first ace of the season when she hit an inch perfect tee shot on the sixth.
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