On a windy and testing day at Hulencourt Golf Club in Belgium, none of the five Irish women competing found themselves in red figures at the conclusion of round one of the Hulencourt Women’s Open.
At +1, Anna Foster and Lauren Walsh front the quintet, with Sara Byrne on behind on +2, Canice Screene on +3, and Olivia Mehaffey one further adrift on +4.
Foster started brightly with three birdies in her opening six holes, but a double on the 18th – her ninth – altered her fortunes and two further bogeys on the front saw her slip back the wrong side of par and end the day sharing 43rd.
Alongside her, Walsh had a contrasting experience as she carded three early bogeys but turned it around with three birdies and just the one dropped shot on the way home.
Tied for 58th, Byrne is just the right side of the cutline, but Screene and Mehaffey will need to make upward movement on Friday if they’re to find themselves with weekend tee times.
Australia’s Kelsey Bennett tops the leaderboard at the end of the day’s play.
Starting on the 10th tee, Bennett had a strong run of birdies, including multiple back-to-back streaks on both the front and back nine around Hulencourt. Despite two bogeys and a double bogey, the Australian still managed an impressive five-under-par round, thanks to a remarkable nine birdies over the opening 18 holes.
Chasing her first LET victory, the 25-year-old has had a solid start of the season, recording three top-10 finishes – including a tie for eighth at both the Joburg Ladies Open and the Aramco Korea Championship, and an impressive T3 at the Investec SA Women’s Open.
“I’m pretty happy with today”, she said. “I can’t complain when you hole a few putts, so it’s good. My caddie and I really spoke through a lot of the shots today, and it definitely pulled off.
“You’ve got to get in the right position off the tee, especially with that wind. It got up a bit, so just making sure you judge the right distance, especially as there’s a fair few run-offs on the sides of the greens.”
She enjoys a one-stroke advantage over Germany’s Helen Briem and Avani Prashanth of India on a day where just 21 of the 132-player field ended the day in red figures.
Leave a comment