England’s Cara Gainer held her nerve to defeat Indian Diksha Dagar in a playoff in the LET’s season-opening Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, but it was mixed emotions for the Irish quintet as Lauren Walsh and Annabel Wilson made excellent progress, Anna Foster held firm, and Sara Byrne and Olivia Mehaffey both slipped down the leaderboard.
Byrne had found herself in sole possession of the lead through 16 holes of the penultimate round, but a brace of closing bogeys saw her surrender it. The final-round push she was hoping for never really materialised as she traded two birdies and two bogeys over the opening 12 holes, and needing to go into full attack mode over the closing stretch.
Meanwhile, Walsh who had quickly established herself as one of the most consistent LET starts in her rookie season, was coming with a charge of her own. Having started the day on -2 and five back, she’d birdied two of the first six but a bogey on five looked as though it had killed her chances.
She came storming back into it on the back nine, however, birdieing 11 and then reeling off three-in-a-row from the 13th. Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep the momentum going and three closing pars saw her take the clubhouse lead at -7, but in all likelihood a shot or two shy.
Byrne’s challenged then collapsed over the final five holes as she bogeyed two and then rounded out with a double to slip back to -2 where she’d end up tied for 24th.
Walsh would eventually finish two shots back in a two-way tie for fourth, with Gainer edging Dagar on the first playoff hole as the Indian bogeyed and Gainer birdied.
“I got off a pretty solid start. I made a lot of nice pars, one or two birdies on the front nine,” said 23-year-old Walsh. “A little slip up on the par five, but I got it going on the back nine, had a lot of really nice iron shots. I hit a lot of shots inside 10 feet and managed to convert three of them, left one or two out there.
“I’m really happy with how this week has gone, first week back in the office and to get in contention is always nice so very pleased with the week’s work. I was sick to start out the week, so happy to be able fight back.”
Walsh admitted that her focus during the off season had centred around the short irons and on the greens and felt that the hard work had shown dividends.
“My coach I always look at the end of the year and how it’s all gone – things I can improve on,” she explained. “For me, my putting was a huge part of that, my wedges also. I hit some really nice wedges today and this week so my coach will be happy with that. The putting has been coming along nice as well, held some nice ones this week. I just took some time off and worked hard.”
Annabel Wilson marked her first start as an LET member with a three-under 70 for a T33 finish on level-par, while Anna Foster broke even with the course on the final day and her 70 left her in 42nd at +2.
Olivia Mehaffey had a final-round 77 that included a triple bogey-eight on the par-5 second hole, and that resulted in her finishing tied for 57th.
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