Its all very tight at the top as the Swiss Ladies Open heads into Sunday with the top eight separated by just three. Lauren Walsh put on a show in her opening nine on Golfpark Holzhäusern to move herself to within five of the overnight leader. The Spaniard Fatima Fernandez Cano sits one clear on -8 after her five-under second round showing.
Walsh was in the mood today and her three-under second round moved her right into striking distance as we look to Sunday’s final round. Starting on the 10th, Walsh got off to a flyer with back-to-back birdies on her opening two holes. This was followed by a run of three more from the 13th through to the par-3 15th.
The Dubliner was all action in a scintillating first nine. She would give two back with bogeys on the 16th and again on the par-4 18th but one more birdie, her sixth, on the 17th saw the Carton House player turn for the day on -4. Her back nine was an altogether more sedate affair and she will be happy with that after struggling here yesterday. Just the one dropped shot on the 5th with eight pars on her way home leave Walsh on -3. With a fair wind behind her and another run like she had today could see Walsh trouble the business end of the leaderboard come Sunday evening.
There was no real bolter on day two as the packed top of the leaderboard sees 20 players separated by just four strokes. 66 seemed to be the magic number again today with all the leaders sharing that score on Saturday. Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano leads overnight with her eight-under giving her the tiniest of margins clear at the top from Sara Kjellker and Czech Kristyna Napoleaova in second. A group of four sit one back on -6 while, lurking in the long grass on -5 sit recent winners such as Amy Taylor and home fan favourite Chiara Tamburlini.
The 28-year-old leader was on hand to give her thoughts on a fine round: “It was just a good day,” Fernandez Cano said. “Yesterday was not quite as solid, it was a bit more of a grind and I made some longer putts. Whereas today it was about hitting a bunch of greens and a bunch of fairways. I think I only missed one green and that was by like two feet or something. I gave myself a bunch of opportunities. The conditions are great. The course is very nice. It is very hot here. I’m quite used to it, but we did have to adjust because the ball is flying very high because of where we are. It’s humid and hot. Other than that, it’s great.”
She gave her thoughts on a busy Tour schedule and recovery from injury last season: “Because I played three in a row, to me, it was either skip Switzerland or Prague [the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open]. The thinking playing this week instead is because I felt I’d absolutely love Switzerland. I love the mountains and the lakes, and I’ve never been here before. So, I took advantage of that, and it’s clearly worked out. I feel good. After I had surgery last year [on my arm], I had a little scare earlier in the year. I had to get it checked out by a doctor to make sure it was good. But the arm seems to be doing fine. It’s clearly working although sometimes I get a little scared because I’m more protective. But I feel fine and I’m very lucky to be out here playing.”
Walsh heads out on the final day off the first at 8.22AM with Australia’s Kelsey Bennett and Pia Babnik of Slovakia for company as she will look to make ground to the leaders early by replicating her early form today. The lead three-ball will commence battle at 9.52 as Fernandez Cano, Kjellker and Napoleaova take to the course in the final match of the day. Expect fireworks with such a tight scoreboard and opportunities a plenty on an exciting final day at the Swiss Ladies Open.
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