Sara Byrne is best placed of the Irish going into the final round of the LET’s Dutch Ladies Open at Goyer Golf and Country Club, but she is well down the field in a tie for 42nd place.
The day began brightly with Olivia Mehaffey sharing the first-round lead after an impressive four-under 68 at a golf course that she admitted didn’t suit her style of play, but things began to unravel quickly for the Tandragee woman and by the time she made the turn, it was evident that her battle was going to be with the cutline rather than the top of the leaderboard.
Byrne, who finished runner-up at the Jabra Ladies Open de France in her last tournament start, had opened with a level-par 72 and she made two birdies in her opening nine holes to make the turn at -2. She improved that to -3 after trading two birdies and a bogey over the first five on the way home, but a disappointing three-bogey finish saw her fall from a tie for 15th into a share of 42nd.
Aine Donegan and Anna Foster are one shot further adrift at +1 after rounds of 73 and 72 respectively, while Mehaffey’s luck didn’t improve on the second nine and she missed the cut by three, as did Canice Screene.
England’s Charlotte Heath fired a bogey-free round of 67 to move to eight-under-par and take sole possession of the lead after the LET rookie produced a 69 on the opening day of action in the Netherlands.
Heath began her day on the 10th tee and rolled in her first birdie of the day on 16 before making another on the first and fourth.
The Englishwoman finished strongly with birdies on the seventh and ninth holes to seal her five-under and lead by two strokes with one round remaining.
“I had pretty good ball striking, I didn’t really hole many long putts they were all within 10 feet,” said Heath. “I haven’t been doing that recently, so it was nice to do. I hit pretty much all bar one green, so it was pretty stress-free. I love to throw a bogey in my rounds, so I honestly cannot remember the last time I didn’t have one.
“Quirky is a good way to describe the course. You have to think a lot about positioning. There are some tee shots which I find quite uncomfortable. You’re laying back or you have to commit to it really hard drives. It’s a bit quirky.
“I have been working on mostly putting, I felt like the last stretch my ball striking was really good, but I could never convert. I’ve had several putting lessons in the last break.
“I don’t think I will do anything different tomorrow. It’s just another round of golf and that’s how I will do it. The leaderboard could change, so you never know. With the pin positions, this golf course can play very differently. Some holes that were easy yesterday were tough today and vice versa. We will see tomorrow.”
South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace, Spain’s Harang Lee and Germany’s Sophie Witt share second place on six-under-par at the 36-hole mark.
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