Olivia Mehaffey comfortably progressed to the Final Stage of Ladies European Tour Q-School and she will be joined for another week in La Manga by Clandeboye’s Victoria Craig after both progressed from the First Stage today.
Craig, who started the day in Spain two shots off the cut mark – with only the top-75 and ties qualifying for the Final Stage – but produced a superb bogey-free one-under 71 to finish 11-over, two shots inside the cut mark.
Mehaffey, meanwhile, would have needed a truly disastrous round not to cruise into the Final Stage as she started the final day 16 shots inside the cut mark, and she booked her place in the next week’s qualifier with a level-par 71 on the North Course to finish third at six-under for the week.
“It has been good,” said Mehaffey. “I had six weeks off before this, so it has been a nice way to ease in before next week and I’m pretty happy. I hit a lot of greens. There are few things I want to work on before next week, but it was really fun to learn both courses and get back into competitive golf again.”
The pair will now move onto the Final Stage, which is played over five rounds again in La Manga, starting on Wednesday.
While Mehaffey was waltzing into the next round, Craig knew she needed a big round to join her fellow countrywoman in the draw for the Final Stage and she duly delivered with a superbly consistent display.
Having failed to score under par in her first three rounds, the 24-year-old picked the perfect time to find her first of the week, and not only that but she kept the blemishes off the scorecard to seal her progression.
Her only birdie of the round came on the par-five ninth and she is now only five rounds away from having full status on the LET for the first time in her career, with the top-20 after next week’s Final Stage earning category 11 status for next season.
Things were a lot more straightforward for Mehaffey, who had a slightly more adventurous day that involved two birdies on her opening two holes and then bogeys at the fourth and 15th to finish the day where she started.
Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson secured a wire-to-wire win, her level-par 73 seeing her finish at nine-under, two clear of Nigeria’s Georgia Iziemgbe Oboh, with Mehaffey in third.
- Full scoring HERE
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