Round two of the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open got underway on Friday with Kildare’s Lauren Walsh continuing to put pressure on leader Alice Hewson as she holds onto a shared second place heading into the third and final round.
After a stellar five-under-par finish in round one, Walsh kept momentum flowing around Migros Golfpark Holzhausern, posting a two-under round two, taking the 24-year-old to seven-under for the week so far.
Walsh was electric off the tee box, hitting 13/14 fairways in regulation as she parred the front eight holes, before making a deserved birdie on the par-4 ninth.
Another birdie followed on the 10th but that would be the last of the day as Walsh shot level par all the way back to the clubhouse.
“It was a good day’s work”, said Walsh who celebrated her birthday yesterday. “Bogey free which is always nice. I played really solid again and probably hit the ball better than yesterday. I think I converted a couple more times yesterday, but I’m happy with how I was hitting it, so more of the same tomorrow.””
Heading into tomorrow, she continued: “I can only control what I do tomorrow and I’m just going to enjoy it out there. I’ve had a good two years here before and I’ve enjoyed this week so far.”
2024 VP Swiss Open winner Alice Hewson continued her round one form on Friday with a four-under-par 67 as the 28-year-old flew out of the blocks with four birdies on the front nine.
Momentum slowed midway through the back nine which saw two bogeys for Hewson, but the two-time LET winner bounced back emphatically with back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to see her head into the final round in the lead at nine-under.
“I’m not in control of what everybody else is doing out there. There’s still the afternoon wave to go out today, so who knows what the scoreboard will look like by the end of today, but we just going to take it as I always do, and see where we’re at by end of tomorrow,” said Hewson.
Australia’s Sarah Kemp shares second place with Walsh at seven-under-par with a bogey-free five-under round two.
An even-par round for Cork’s Sara Byrne sees the 24-year-old head into the final round in a tie for 17th at three-under-par.
Byrne needs a strong finish to get inside the top 60 Order of Merit to tee off at the LET Tour Finals.
It was a steady day for Byrne, but she may be feeling some regret for not taking full advantage of the scorable course as both nines saw a single birdie and bogey.
Armagh’s Annabel Wilson matched her one-under round on Thursday with another one-under-par round two to see her in a tie for 23rd.
The 24-year-old took full advantage of the back-to-back par-5s on 16 and 17, birdieing both as she closed out her day. Wilson too needs to string together some strong performances to get within the OOM top 60.
It was a day to forget for both Canice Screene and Olivia Mehaffey as both failed to make the one-over-par cutline.
Screene seemed to lose all momentum from her four-under-par round one as the 24-year-old posted a disappointing six-over round two, ending her week at two-over.
Mehaffey’s first round of four-over-par seemed to have done the damage as an even-par round two was not enough for the 27-year-old as she ended her week on four-over.
The final round is set to tee-off at 9am Irish time with Lauren Walsh teeing off at 10:52am Irish time.
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