Ireland will have five representatives in the rounds of 32 at the Men’s and Women’s Spanish Amateur Championships after a superb round of 64 that saw all bar one come through their respective matches.
At Club de Golf el Prat, having come through the 36-hole strokeplay qualifying section in a tie for eighth, Roscommon teenager Olivia Costello was in no mood to slow down as she raced to a 6UP lead through eight holes in her match against Spain’s Carmen Garcia Gonzalez, and went on to record a 4&3 victory to set up a round-of-32 encounter with Italy’s Almond Campoverde Martin.
Kate Lanigan took one stroke more than Costello in the strokeplay section, and took control of her tie against Carlota Carmona Rodriguez when she won the third hole. She never looked back, stretching it to 3UP when she won back-to-back holes on six and seven and never allowed the Spaniard to get back within two from there on, closing it out 3&2 on the 16th. She’ll face Sweden’s Havana Torstensson in the round of 32.
Meanwhile, at Guadalhorce Golf Club near Malaga, John Doyle faced Switzerland’s Julian Michel and never trailed throughout, running out a 2UP winner to set up a tie with local Gonzalo Gancedo Onieva.
Luke O’Neill started strong against German Leif Breede, but was only up by one before back-to-back hole wins on 10 and 11 provided some breathing space and he was able to close out the match 4&2 and now faces Welshman Matt Roberts.
Paul Coughlan fell 4&3 to Spain’s Jorge Martin, ruling out a perfect day for the Irish, and it looked as though Brian Doran was set to join him on the sideline on Friday when he fell 1DOWN after losing the 16th. But a win on 17 tied the match again, before Doran completed the turnaround with another win on the last to set up a tie with England’s Eliot Baker.
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