Earlier in the week, Lauren Walsh, competing primarily on the LPGA Tour, said that she felt it was going to be a case of less pressure and more fun in her third appearance at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open. But with five holes to play in her opening round, and at five-over-par, it was fair to say that those circumstances had flipped.
“Yeah, it’s hard to have fun when you’re making double and triple bogeys,” she admitted. “But I dug deep those last couple of holes and look, I love what I do, I’m really fortunate to do this for a living, and I really enjoyed myself out there today.”
Those three birdies that she made in her final five holes on day one gave her a platform on which to build, and she spent the best part of round two doing exactly that.
Birdies on the 10th, 17th, fourth and eighth holes got her to the last at -4 for the day and two-under overall, marking a remarkable turnaround over the space of 22 holes, but a costly final hole left her waiting anxiously on the afternoon scoring to confirm whether or not she’d be teeing it up at the weekend.
“Overall, I’m happy with how I feel and how I played,” she said. “I know I had two blips and a couple of three-putts yesterday, but honestly, I played nicely besides that.
“So, yeah, hopefully my game’s in good shape come the weekend and we can just keep our fingers crossed for the afternoon.”
She admitted that she loves performing on the big stage, and with strong crowds expected over the weekend, that could very much play into her favour and spark another surge up the leaderboard.
And that additional pressure of being in danger of missing another cut at home and not being able to play in front of family and friends played its own part in her revival.
“I love a big occasion and I love it when things get serious, you know,” she admitted. “I love being able to dig deep and kind of find something when I need to.
“I was able to do that yesterday afternoon and again I put on a good display for 17 holes today.
“So huge thanks to everybody who’s come out, you know. As soon as a putt drops out here and that crowd kind of get behind it, it definitely does mean a lot.
“So thank you to everybody who’s come out, and yeah, obviously playing on home soil, my family’s been out the last couple of days – a lot of family and friends as well.”
With the support behind her, and a game that’s threatened to catch fire but is yet to fully ignite, provided she gets the opportunity then she believes a little more luck on the greens could make a huge difference over the final 36 holes.
“I’m giving myself loads of chances,” she said. “Now hopefully the putter can heat up over the weekend.”
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