After a wet and windy first round at Golf Barriere in Deauville, the sun came out on day two but chilly temperatures meant that it was going to be another tough day at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France.
Lauren Walsh started just a shot off the lead after an opening four-under 67, but never really got into her stride on day two. Starting on the 10th, she bogeyed the par-4 14th and par-5 16th and reached the turn at two-over. It quickly became three-over when she dropped another on the first but took a step in the right direction with a birdie on the par-5 second.
That would be her only birdie of the day, however, and another bogey on seven saw her slip back to -1 overall after a three-over 74 and she’s now six shots off the pace at the halfway mark.
Sara Byrne’s second LET start as a professional has been an up and down affair. The Douglas woman also began on the 10th, but after birdieing her first hole of the day, dropped four shots over the next six holes thanks to a quartet of bogeys, before picking up another shot with a birdie-three on 18.
Two more birdies followed on two and four, but a bogey on the par-5 ninth will have taken some of the flavour from her lunch but at +1 overall, she’s safely through to the third and final round making it two cuts from two on the premier European circuit in women’s golf.
Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini and recent KPMG Women’s Irish Open winner Annabel Dimmock will be in the final grouping on Saturday having accompanied one another in each of the opening two rounds, and with the English woman trailing her Swiss counterpart by a shot.
Tamburlini’s round was aided by an eagle on the second – her 11th – and a final birdie on the eighth as she covered her final nine holes in -3 for a four-under 67 which moved her to -7 overall.
Dimmock matched Tamburlini’s 67 and also covered the final nine in three-under, though a hat-trick of birdies on holes three, four and five was how she got to her -6 tally.
In-form Australian Kirsten Rudgeley is among a quartet tied for third at -3, three off Dimmock and four off Tamburlini.
This means that Walsh, despite her disappointing second-round score, is only two shots off the top three and could push herself further up the Order of Merit rankings with a strong final round on Saturday.
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