Olivia Mehaffey is six shots off the pace after the opening round of the Jabra Ladies Open presented by Bitstamp at Evian Golf Resort.
Mehaffey carded an opening round of 72 for a one-over total which leaves her in a share of 22nd place as Spain’s Carmen Alonso leads the way on five-under after a sublime 66.
Mehaffey who narrowly missed out on a place at the US Women’s Open in a playoff earlier this week began her round from the tenth tee and got off to a great start with a birdie on the eleventh.
A first bogey of the day on seventeen saw her turn in level-par 36 and things seemed like they were heading in the right direction for the Tandragee native when she picked up her second birdie of the day at the par-3 2nd.
However the Co. Down woman dropped three shots in two holes to knock the stuffing out of her round after carding a double-bogey and bogey on holes three and four.
The Arizona graduate did claw a shot back before the close of play with a birdie on the par-5 16th but has a lot of work to do if she is to win this event and book her spot in the summer’s Amundi Evian Championship.
Spaniard Alonso holds a one-shot lead over Australia’s Whitney Hillier and Scotland’s Gabrielle McDonald and she felt indebted to her caddie Maria Beautell after the pair struck up a good partnership in Madrid a fortnight ago.
“This course is really challenging, so you have to focus all the time. If you miss a shot, you don’t have too many chances to recover, so I’m really happy with the round,” said Alonso, now in her 18th year on the LET.
“This year, I’m hitting the ball the same as in previous years but Maria is helping me around the greens, especially with the breaks,” Alonso said. “She is always positive, telling me that I am always doing a good job, so I follow her rules and it’s working.”
Leave a comment