Lauren Walsh recovered from a poor first round to move into the top ten after 36 holes at the ACC Women’s Golf Championship at Pawleys Island.
The Castlewarden native is on two-under-par after rounds of 75 and 67 and she is seven shots off the pace with Duke University’s Phoebe Brinker the runaway leader on nine-under.
Walsh struggled in her first 18 holes on Thursday morning falling to three-over after four bogeys in her first twelve holes. She finished well with a birdie on the par-5 13th and five closing pars and she took that momentum into her second round after a quick turnaround.
The Wake Forest student bogeyed the par-3 12th as she played the course from back to front in the afternoon but a hat trick of birdies to finish her front nine got her back to one-over for the championship.
Riding the crest of a wave Walsh posted three more birdies on the back nine with gains arriving on the second, fifth and seventh as she came home in 33 and moved into a share of sixth position.
Cork’s Sara Byrne also recovered from an opening round 75 to shoot a one-under 71 and move to two-over.
Byrne who is representing Miami is in a share of 18th place.
Byrne’s opening 75 included a double-bogey on the 16th as she played her front nine in four-over 40 but four birdies and three bogeys in her second round helped her climb seven places on the leaderboard.
The Douglas native finished with a brace of birdies on 17 and 18.
Mairead Martin of Louisville who enjoyed great success in match play recently is struggling on five-over after backing up a 77 with a level-par 72.
All eyes are on Brinker at the top of the leaderboard who holds a five-shot lead over North Carolina’s Kirsta Junkkari after a sensational seven-under 65 that included five birdies and an eagle.
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