Sara Byrne usually treats herself to an ice cream if she fires more than five birdies in a round of golf. On Friday she had double reason to celebrate as she achieved that feat and also made the cut on her birthday at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
The 25-year-old finished with a flourish, rolling in birdies on three of her last seven holes to rescue a 73 and make it into the final day on the number at two-over.
Byrne, making only her second appearance of the LET season following a spring sabbatical to treat an elbow injury, started well with a birdie on the second but things looked to be going awry when she double bogeyed the 4th and bogeyed the 6th.
She birdied the 8th but the Dromoland Castle star looked to be heading home early on her birthday when shed bogeyed the 10th and 11th before she awarded herself a gift of her own with crucial birdies on the 12th, 14th and 15th.
Áine Donegan leads the Irish charge on one-under while Anna Foster is a shot further back.
Kelsey Bennett continued her excellent form on Friday firing a flawless 65 (-8) to move to 13-under par and sit in pole position heading into the final round.
She leads Slovenian Pia Babnik by three shots who matched the Aussie’s score with a brilliant performance of her own on Royal Golf Dar Es Salam’s Blue Course.
Just like in round one, Bennett, a winner already this season at the Australian Women’s Classic, got off to a hot start birdying three of her first four holes at the 10th, 12th and 13th. The 26-year-old followed this up with another at the 15th to make the turn in 32 and steer clear of the chasing pack.
On to the front nine, Bennett’s back nine, and the Aussie would fire birdies at the 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th to sign for a 65 (-8) – one short of Bronte Law’s course record from 2024.
“After a good opening round it’s nice to follow it up,” Bennett said. “Honestly, I just holed the world today. My putter was on fire so that was good. I gave myself some very generous looks. The course is very undulated so you need to miss in the right spots. My driver is on one at the moment too so it helps to hit a lot of fairways around here.”
Bennett won her maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) title on home soil at Magenta Shores in March and currently sits fourth on the Order of Merit.
“It definitely helps having been in that position before,” the Australian said. “Knowing I converted that position. But it’s a different course, different country, different weather, you’ve just got to take each day as it is and hopefully my putter stays hot. I do get a little nervous out there but not overly. I’m pretty chill.”
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