Without LET Order of Merit points or standings to worry about, Lauren Walsh was intent on enjoying herself at her third KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
At five-over-par through 13 on her opening round, fun is not quite how you’d describe it, but over the 59 holes that followed, she made birdies by the bucketload and very much enjoyed making her first cut in her national open.
“Overall, I’m quite pleased,” she said after signing for a three-under-par 69 that left her tied for 24th at the end of the week. “I mean, I showed some really good form this week. You know, a few holes crossed me out there and held me back from being in contention, but overall really pleased. I made a lot of birdies and really enjoyed myself and, yeah, best Irish Open so far.”
Of particular enjoyment was having family, friends, and many others supporting her in her home county.
“I had such a good time out there,” she said. “I have a lot of family who never get out to the golf course and they’re all here today and I saw a lot of faces in the crowd of people I haven’t seen in a long time.
“And everybody was willing those putts in on the back nine – nothing wanted to drop – but no, the atmosphere around has been amazing.”
She can now go back to focusing on her rookie season on the LPGA where she’s on course to not just retain her card – which is the primary goal for most rookies – but to qualify for the season-ending CME Globe Championship which requires finishing inside the top 60 in the rankings.
“Yeah, obviously the big goal for this year was to not have to go back to Q-School but to be honest, I wanted to play CME in November and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can kind of jump my way back up and get into the tour final, yeah, top 60, get into that.
“That was the goal at the start of the year – obviously that would mean no Q-School either. Q-School’s grand, you never want to go, but you might have to.
“So, yeah, hopefully, fingers crossed, touch wood that we won’t be there this year.”
Leave a comment