Lauren Walsh remains projected to finish inside the top-10 on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit at the halfway stage of the season-ending Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España.
Doing so would give Walsh a spot in next week’s final stage of the LPGA Q-Series and a second round of 70 has left her in a share of 24th place with her closest rival, Canada’s Anna Huang, on three-under.
Walsh, who trails leader Trichat Cheenglab by twelve shots, started brilliantly with a birdie at the second and an eagle at the fourth. Three bogeys and a birdie in her next five holes killed her momentum but she bounced back with back to back birdies on 11 and 12 and parred her way to the clubhouse after a bogey on 13.
Anna Foster is best of the Irish in 17th place on four-under after a second straight round of 70 but the Elm Park rookie will wonder what might have been after two double bogeys in her last six holes saw her close out her back nine with just one par.
Foster turned in two-under after a brace of birdies and seven pars before she roared into contention with three birdies in a row to start her back nine.
Unfortunately she double bogeyed the par-3 13th and bogeyed the 15th before birdies on 16 and 18 sandwiched a double bogey on 17 as she came home in a rollercoaster 36.
Sara Byrne remains level-par after back to back rounds of 72 which saw her projected to rise to 66th in the Order of Merit which would see her keep her playing rights for next year.
At the top, Cheenglab fired a course record of 63 to lead by seven strokes on fifteen-under at the halfway stage.
The 2023 LET Order of Merit winner began the day in a share of the lead and started well with three birdies on the trot on holes two, three and four at Real Guadalhorce Club de Golf.
Cheenglab rolled in back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh holes before adding another on 12, and she finished in style with three birdies in a row to set a new course record and the lowest round of her Ladies European Tour (LET) career.
The 30-year-old was presented with a trophy to commemorate the course record by Real Guadalhorce Club de Golf and leads the LET season finale with a score of 15-under-par at the 36-hole mark.
“Yesterday, I said about finishing five-under-par every day and to have a total of -20 would be enough for me this week, but I got four bonus points today! The driver wasn’t as good as yesterday, but I could make very good up-and-downs,” said Cheenglab.
“I will credit to my boyfriend, who is my caddie, because I cannot read the lines with the slopes. It’s very hard to read the lines, but he helped me so I will give him the credit today.
“I didn’t have an easy putt until 17 because it was only three feet, it was still breaking a lot on the right. Most of them were 9-12 feet birdie putts and I made them. My putter is on fire.”
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