Olivia Mehaffey fired a fourth-round, six-under 67 to keep hopes of having two regular Irish LET contenders in 2024 alive at Lalla Aicha LET Q-School in Marrakech.
Starting the day on +4 and three shots off the 65-and-ties cut line, the Tandragee star knew that she’d likely require a round in the 60s at the par-73 Al Maaden Course if she was to regain Category 12 or Category 16 status for next season, with all those outside the eventual top 50 having to settle for limited Category 19 status.
Taking an aggressive approach, an opening bogey on the 10th hole left her hopes in disarray, but she rebounded to birdie the next and added four more on her opening nine to make the turn at -4 for the day and at level-par overall.
Now in with a real chance of securing a final round tee time, she traded a birdie and a bogey on holes one and two, then added another brace back-to-back on three and four to move to -6 for the day. Another bogey at the fifth put the brakes on again, but she’d pick that shot up again on the seventh and par her way in for a 67 that moved her to -2 overall and into a tie for 40th.
She’s now just four shots off 16th place where the current five-way tie is the cutoff for Category 12 status, and in line for Category 16 status along with Walsh.
The Castlewarden woman who struggled to a two-over on day three at the easier Al Maaden Course was taking on the difficult Royal Course on day four and, having missed the opportunity to gain breathing room, was now in danger of missing out altogether if things went awry on day four.
A birdie at the first was offset by a bogey on the second, and she dropped another shot at the fourth before reeling off five pars to close out the front nine.
She started the back nine in similar fashion to the front with a birdie at the tenth, but this time she didn’t follow up with a bogey, and another bridie at 17 was the only deviation from par as she signed off on a 71 for a -4 total that leaves her in tied 30th going into the final round.
All of the competitors will play the Royal Course in the final round, and whilst it’s proven much the more difficult of the two, scoring wise, anything under par is likely to see the Irish pair move up a little, but with both gunning for a top-20 spot, Mehaffey in particular will need to see more of the form she produced in today’s round.
With a two-tee start in operation, Walsh will be first out on hole number one at 08:30 Irish time and Mehaffey is among the early starters on hole number 10, teeing off at 09:03.
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