Olivia Costello and Valerie Clancy are five shots off the pace after the opening day of the Flogas Irish Women’s Amateur Open Championship at Headfort.
On another wonderful day of weather, Kells’ international visitors found the Championship course to their liking in particular, Carys Worby of Wales who fired a superb five-under 67 to lead by two shots on five-under-par.
Tucked in behind her is Frenchwoman Louise Landgraf on three-under, a shot ahead of her compatriot Lily Reitter while Carolyn Fuller of the USA and France’s Kirra St-Laurent are one-under after rounds of 71.
It’s perhaps unusual to see no Irish under par or inside the top-5 at an Irish Women’s Amateur but they are well populated among the chasing pack with Costello and Clancy on level-par after 72s while Rebekah Gardner (Clandeboye) and Anna Dawson (Tramore) are on plus one.
Irish Girls champion Zoe McLean-Tattan is eleventh on two-over after a 74.
For Costello, who needs a good performance in this counting event for the Junior Ryder Cup in September, it was an up and down day where she mixed five birdies and five bogeys.
The 17-year-old from Roscommon started slowly and made the turn in one-over before a bogey on the tenth left her off the pace on plus two.
However, a strong finish that included back to back birdies on 15 and 16 have kept her in the hunt as the danger woman heading into the final 36 holes.
“I got off to a slow start, I didn’t really play that well. I kept myself in it the first fourteen holes then played well the last few holes,” said the TY student.
“I started hitting a few more greens and took my chances coming in.”
Killarney’s Clancy was slightly disappointed with her level par round having made the turn in 34 after three birdies and a bogey on her front nine.
A rollercoaster run to the clubhouse saw her bogey the 13th, double bogey the par-5 14th, bounce back with birdies on 15 and 16 and drop a shot on 18.
“I played pretty well, holed a lot of good putts for birdie, made a few mistakes on the back nine but overall played pretty solid,” said Clancy.
“I birdied the next two after the double, I got a bit unlucky in one of the bunkers but I bounced back well.”
Tralee’s Emma Vinarcik is within striking distance on three-over alongside Kate Dillon of Oughterard and Portrush’s Hannah Lee-McNamara while Mairead Martin, Holly Hamilton, Marina Joyce-Moreno and Molly O’Hara are four-over.
Scoring HERE
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