Sara Byrne has work to do if she’s to avoid a second successive missed cut on the Epson Tour after she shot an opening round of level-par in the IOA Classic in Longwood, Florida.
Byrne made an early birdie on the par-5 third, but a double bogey on seven saw her slip the wrong side of par and she’d never get back in red figures for the rest of the day.
She battled hard, however, and closed out with a ‘two’ on the par-3 18th to get into the clubhouse at level-par and in a share of 51st place, one shot ahead of the projected cutline which falls at the 36-hole mark.
Korea’s Jeongeung Lee5 has raced into a two-stroke lead after carding eight birdies in a bogey-free 63, and she leads Colombia’s Valery Plata, Israeli Laetitia Beck and Gina Kim of the United States who share second at -6.
With the wind expected to pick up steadily throughout the day on Friday, Byrne’s early tee time could provide the launchpad for a big move up the leaderboard over the closing 36 holes, but for now, earning a Sunday tee time is paramount.
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