Sweden’s Moa Folke produced a finish that has perhaps ruled out Leona Maguire this weekend at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
Folke went on a blistering run on the back nine that came to an end with a stunning closing eagle on the par-5 18th as she emerged from the pack and opened up a two-shot halfway lead in Dromoland Castle.
Even without the eagle it still would have been a closing stretch to remember as the Swede reeled off four birdies in a row from the 13th to jump into a share of the lead.
Folke holds a two-shot lead over Carmen Alonso, Klara Spilkova and Smilla Tarning Soenderby with Ann van Dam and Ursula Wikstrom a shot further back on –9.
Her round of 62 is the lowest in her LET career and if her finish was excellent then her front nine was even better as she reached the turn in just 30 strokes on a course that has been reduced to just over 6100 yards with preferred lies in place.
“I don’t know what happened out there really. All the putts just seemed to go into today, I hit some really good shots and I’m really happy but I don’t know if I can understand what happened. I think everything just came together. I made some mistakes but still ended up in good spots and then I made a lot of putts, I’m not going to lie,” said Folke who carded nine birdies and an eagle.
Home favourite Maguire teed off just two shots off the pace after a hot putter masked some scrappy golf in an opening 67. However, her flat stick was unable to bail her out this time and four successive bogeys on her back nine saw her tumble out of contention.
In the end, a rather disgruntled Maguire signed for a disappointing 75 as she fell back to two-under and a share of 42nd place.
The cut fell at one-under and Aideen Walsh of Dromoland will rue her second shot into the par-5 16th which cost her a bogey and meant she missed out by the minimum on level-par after a second round of 73.
Scoring HERE
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