A solid level-par opening round of 71 from Ladies European Tour (LET) debutant Lauren Walsh leaves her tied for 36th at the VP Bank Swiss Open.
Frenchwoman Anne-Charlotte Mora leads the tournament on -9 after an opening round of 62 – two shots clear compatriot Nastasia Nadaud and Norway’s Madelene Stavnar.
Walsh began her round with a birdie on the 10th but would give a shot back two holes later on the par-four 12th. Walsh recovered well from this setback with a birdie on the subsequent hole to bring her score back to one-under par.
A run of pars between the 14th and the 16th was interrupted by a bogey on the 17th as the Castlewarden golfer made her way onto the first tee to start her back nine.
Two pars on the first and second preceded back-to-back birdies for the 23-year-old that brought her back below par again, but in keeping with the up-and-down nature of her round, another speedbump was ahead.
A double bogey on the par-four sixth undid Walsh’s good work on the previous holes, and although another venture below par didn’t materialise on her final four holes, a round of 71 is a solid showing on her LET debut.
Unfortunately for the other golfer from the island of Ireland, Olivia Mehaffey’s opening round certainly didn’t go as she would have hoped, finishing her day on four-over-par.
An early bogey on the second set the tone for Mehaffey as she began her round, and things would unfortunately get worse for the Northern Irishwoman as she double bogeyed the par-three fourth.
A run of pars leading up to her back nine steadied the ship as she hoped to reverse her fortunes on the final nine holes. However, another bogey on the 12th dropped Mehaffey to +4 for the day.
A birdie on the 17th looked like it might have put a more positive shine on a disappointing opening round, but a bogey on the final hole meant that Mehaffey finished her round on +4.
Clubhouse leader Anne-Charlotte Mora played a sensational bogey-free opening round of golf – with the Frenchwoman sinking nine birdies as she made her way to the scoring summit.
Speaking after a career-best tying round, Mora attributed her impressive start to an improvement in her long game.
“Today was a good day,” said Mora, “Everything was good, especially my irons. I gave myself a lot of opportunities to make birdies and they all seemed to go in which was nice.
“Usually my short game is good but not my long game, but I went home [to France] on Monday and got to practice with my coach which was nice so I was ready for this round.”
Lauren Walsh begins her second round at the Swiss Open tomorrow at 8:22 from the first tee box while Olivia Mehaffey gets underway from the 10th at 9:17 a.m.
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