Sara Byrne is safely through to the weekend at the Epson Tour’s Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic, but she’ll be a little disappointed not to be closer to the lead.
After back-to-back missed cuts on the LPGA feeder circuit, the Cork native put herself in good position after an opening round of two-under, and despite an early bogey on day two, responded with three birdies in a row on 13, 14 and 15 – she started on the 10th – to come surging up the leaderboard.
Another birdie just after the turn got her inside the top 10, but as the wind began to pick up in the Scottsdale desert, mistakes began to creep in. A bogey on 11 was followed by five pars, before a disheartening double bogey on the par-5 eighth dropped her back to level-par for the day and she goes into the weekend tied for 27th and six shots off the lead.
An international trio of Minori Nagano of Japan, Colombia’s Valery Plata and Ligi Zhen of China are locked in a three-way tie for the lead at -8, with American duo Riley Rennell and Hailee Cooper one further back at -7.
First round leader Sophia Popov of Germany got to -9 early in the round, but the former AIG Women’s Open champion carded four bogeys on the way home and dropped into a share of ninth.
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