Walsh impresses with her irons as she rises 31 places

Lauren Walsh moved up a whopping 31 places thanks to a moving day 71 at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco as she closed in on a maiden top-10 finish on the Ladies European Tour.

Walsh lies in a share of 13th place on two-under-par, ten shots off the lead held by Maria Fassi but just six off second place and one shot off the top-10.

The Castlewarden native enjoyed a lightning start with three birdies in her first six holes and a bogey on the par-5 11th was her only blemish from there.

It was a superb performance with her irons as the LET rookie hit her first ten greens in regulation and fifteen overall.

When Walsh was under the cosh after missing the target on 17 and 18 her excellent short game bailed her out which was just as satisfying for her as the quick start.

“Played really nicely today, hit it a lot closer and gave myself a lot more chances and held a couple of putts early which was nice,” said Walsh.

“It was great to get off to a great start and then just kept hitting greens on the back nine and hit good two putts the greens are quite undulating and fast so that was good to get those two putts in.

“Made two great up and downs on 17 and 18 to keep it together so a lot of positives and looking forward to the final round tomorrow.”

Mexico’s Fassi continues to dominate after producing a strong second round of 69 (-4).

The Olympian has held the lead since the start of the tournament carding a round of 65 (-8) on day one.

Despite a shaky start, a double bogey on hole two, the LPGA player dusted off the nerves to roll in three birdies on her front nine on holes five, six and eight.

At the turn, Fassi continued her fine form by rolling in a further four birdies with only a bogey on the 17^th to blemish her back nine scorecard.

Speaking about her second round, Fassi said: “The birdie on five really helped to settle things down for me and it gave me breathing room.“

The weather made a turn for the worse in Rabat as Fassi and those in the morning side of the draw faced wet conditions.

“I’m just very proud of what me and my team are doing. It was a lot harder than yesterday, but we were still able to put a very good round together.”

Meanwhile Olivia Mehaffey made the cut on the number at four-over-par.