A week after sharing second place at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open and claiming her highest LET finish to date, Lauren Walsh is back in the thick of it going into the final round of the La Sella Open.
A four-under 68 in round two pushed her into the top 10 at the halfway mark, and she went two-stroked better on day three to climb into the top three with 18 holes left to play.
The Kildare native signalled her intent with back-to-back birdies to open the day, and carded two more before the turn to go out in 32 strokes. The wind began to pick up on the way home, but she managed to keep bogeys off the card and took care of both par-5s, registering two more birdies that saw her home in 34 for a 66 on the day and a six-under that lifts her to -10 overall.
“Yeah, I’m really happy with today’s work,” she said afterwards. “Yeah, kept it pretty simple out there, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, made up-and-downs when I needed to, holed some putts. Simple, really.”
Despite her lofty position on the leaderboard in solo third, Walsh trails Canadian teenager Anna Huang by seven strokes. But that deficit had been 10 at the start of the day, and she’s intending to come out firing again on the final day and see where it leaves her.
“I think I’m a pretty aggressive player, so, tomorrow, me and Robbie [Walsh’s caddie] will just be trying to create as many birdie opportunities as we can, and, I feel like that’s pretty much our game plan every day.
“Try to give ourselves 18 birdie putts tomorrow and see how many we can make. I think that’s a pretty good mentality to be going in with.
“I’m really happy with where my game’s at and I’m driving it well, hitting it well, you know. I had my coach over the first couple of practice days which was a big help, so I’m feeling very comfortable and confident and hopefully it’s another good day tomorrow and we’ll enjoy it.”
After an opening eight-under 64 that was followed by a second-round 66, Huang looked infallible and showed no cracks as she covered the first dozen holes in four-under on day three. But a bogey on the 15th was her first dropped shot of the week and her 16-year-old nerves will face their biggest test in Sunday’s final round where she’ll be joined by Walsh and France Nastasia Nadaud who occupies solo second at -14, three behind Huang and four ahead of Walsh.
Also hoping for a big final round is Annabel Wilson, who was the only other Irish player besides Walsh to make the 36-hole cut.
Wilson made just four pars in her first dozen holes, with five birdies and three bogeys. After dropping another shot on 15, she signed off in style with a walk-off eagle to push her up to four-under-par for the week and into a share of 17th.
Wilson is chasing valuable Order of Merit ranking points to not only secure her status for 2026, but to push towards a place in the season-ending Championship on the Costa del Sol.
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