South Africa’s Casandra Alexander blitzed the field and fired a course record bogey-free nine-under 63 to lead by four shots after day one of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open at a drenched K Club.
Alexander, who has six runner-up finishes this season including five on the LET and one on the Sunshine Ladies Tour where she was beaten in a five-hole playoff, doesn’t feel she needs to do anything different as she looks to end the hoodoo.
“I think winning, everything has to come together. You need to have a little bit of luck, a little bit of this, a little bit of that I mean, I’ve come second six times this year and each one has been a different scenario that I haven’t been in control of, so I think, yes, it is in the head, but it also comes down to it being my time,” said the world number 38.
Should she finally get over the line she might celebrate with a pint of the black stuff.
“I have two two young boys that play back in South Africa, they are seven and eight and they came to the K Club, so they said that we know you’re gonna do well because we came out. I already unlocked my phone. I’ve got about five messages from the dad, so it’s nice to come and see what they were talking about and all that. And I don’t drink Guinness but I always do when I come to Ireland.”
Áine Donegan is the best of the Irish after a three-under 69 left her six back and in a share of ninth place on her professional debut in this event.
“It was really steady. I think Harry and I kind of got the yardages right at the very start, from the get-go, which was good. The ball was not going as far, especially this afternoon, as this morning, obviously, with the rain and stuff. But I think we basically took one club extra for most of the front nine and a bit of the back nine as well for each yardage. So my distance control was really good, and I gave myself a lot of opportunities.
“We kind of spoke about it briefly coming off 18, and he just said it was a really professional round. It was quite stress-free, other than I suppose one shot on 14, I think it was from 50 yards. I just hit it into the bunker, but made a good up and down. So yeah, pretty solid start. I’m pretty pleased so far.”
Leona Maguire finished her opening round in the unrelenting rain but was adamant that a low score was out there. She was proven correct by Alexander who is the longest hitter on the LET and leads the Order of Merit.
Maguire was in touch with the lead when she signed for her one-under 71 to sit 20th but she is now a distant eight shots off the pace, albeit only four off second spot, as she looks for her first win since 2024 and a historical home victory.
“I started off really nice, gave myself a lot of chances early. It would have been nice to hole a few more putts on the back nine, our front. Then that rain came in and it was a little bit nasty for a few holes.”
The Cavan star has Seamus Power’s former caddie Simon Keelan on the bag as a permanent fixture and she is alongside Annabel Wilson who has former touring pro and retired Headfort Club pro Brendan McGovern as her caddie.
Back in the pack on level-par are Elm Park’s Anna Foster and Canice Screene while Sara Byrne and Olivia Mehaffey are one-over with local favourite Lauren Walsh a shot further back after a closing birdie gave her a 74 to sit alongside Tramore amateur Anna Dawson.
Beth Coulter’s pro debut in this event saw her fall to a four-over 76 as did amateurs Emma Fleming and Anna Abom while Kate Dillon is plus five. Olivia Costello and Katie Poots are six-over with debutant Ella Cantwell at 13-over sure to learn plenty from her experience.
Elsewhere on day one there was a hole-in-one bonanza in the morning as English duo Cara Gainer and Jess Baker, plus France’s Emma Falcher all recorded aces on the Palmer South Course. Gainer made the first hole-in-one of her career on the 2nd while Baker and Falcher holed out on the 12th and 8th respectively.
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