In the end, it wasn’t the week that Áine Donegan was hoping for and maybe even expecting, but her first KPMG Women’s Irish Open as a professional was also the first time she made it through to the weekend.
And despite a rather frustrating final 18 holes on The K Club’s Palmer South Course, the entire experience has only made her hungrier for future editions.
“It was frustrating at times,” she admitted. “A three-putt on the first obviously wasn’t a great start, and I just couldn’t get any momentum going really. That was it.
“I only made two birdies today, I think, and not nothing dropped again really, so overall it was a pretty frustrating week. But, yeah, it kind of makes me hungrier for more.”
Playing in her rookie season as a professional, she admitted that in many ways the on-course frustrations for her as a professional are easier to deal with than the on-course frustrations as an amatuer because her sole focus can be on improving her game and ironing out any kinks as a full-time professional.
“It’s not really,” she explained when asked if there was additional stress when playing for a paycheque. “Because at least now I don’t really have school to think about or anything like that. I can just go back out and start practicing again. You know what I mean?
“I just feel like this week I didn’t get as much out of my game as I probably could have. For most of the rounds, I’d say it was nearly the worst I could have shot.
“So I suppose I can take positives from that and then work on what needs to be worked on, but yeah, it’s still pretty frustrating.”
An impressive rookie season has her inside the top 65 on the LET Order of Merit, and her performance at the PIF London Championship in which she played in the final group with Charley Hull and eventual champion Anna Huang on Sunday. That round, played in elite company, taught her a lot about what it takes to win professional golf tournaments.
“Yeah, I learned loads,” she recalled. “The two in that last group, like they were so aggressive, you know what I mean?
“Obviously Charlie and Anna were quite far ahead in London, but they were both so aggressive. It was kind of like a shootout, similar to what I’m sure it’s going to be like today, but, yeah, just being able to put myself in that position as much as possible. You learn loads and the more times you put yourself in that position, you’re probably going to be more and more successful.
“So that’s what we’re going to focus on for the rest of the year. Maybe take a couple of days off and then get back to work.”
Becoming comfortable in your surroundings and securing your card for your second season are the number one priorities for any rookie professional, and Donegan is no different. She still has some work to do to wrap up her status for 2027, but there is a growing sense that she’s ready to take the next step and become a regular contender even though she’s not featured on the first page of the leaderboard this week.
“Obviously there’s learnings and stuff, but I feel myself getting closer and closer to, you know, a really, really good week,” she said. “I’m just being patient; I know that one will probably come.”
While patience is something that must be leant on on a week-to-week basis, she’s intent on making the professional leaps sooner rather than later.
“That’s what we always said when I turned pro, my coach Gary [Madden] and I, that we’re going to put everything into it the first three years, you know what I mean?” she divulged.
“You know, really go for everything. Why go for second best in any kind of category? I just need to keep working hard and then hopefully the results will take care of all the other outside stuff.”
With the LET now on a fortnight’s break, she’s going to take a well-earned rest and take in some golf as a spectator with the Walker Cup and Amgen Irish Open both set to take place in her native Clare over the following two weeks, but then it’s on to Spain for the La Sella Open and full-steam ahead for the remainder of the LET campaign.
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