Clare’s Aine Donegan matched her first round 71 with another on Saturday at the MCB Ladies Classic in Mauritius, to take the 24-year-old to two-under-par after 36-holes.
Donegan started hot with a birdie at the par-4 first, before adding another at the par-5 sixth. A bogey followed at the eighth but Donegan’s earlier hard work became undone at the 12th.
A couple of errors from tee to green saw the Ennis native make a double, taking her second round score to over-par.
Donegan will be happy with how she responded though – getting back into full gear to make back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th, before parring back to the clubhouse. Donegan sits in T30 at two-under-par, seven strokes back from the leaders.
Wind has been swirling around the Constance Belle Mare Plage the past few days. If Donegan can keep her momentum up, she may have a good chance of a strong finish in Sunday’s third and final round.
Like Donegan, Dublin’s Anna Foster also posted a one-under-par 71 on day two with the 24-year-old sitting one stroke back from Donegan at even-par.
Foster’s front nine consisted of two bogeys and a birdie but a strong finish to the back nine saw two more birdies as the Elm Park golfer heads to the final round in T46.
There is only three places that split Foster and Donegan in the Order of Merit rankings with both golfers looking to add some big points to their tally in the final round.
Both Down’s Olivia Mehaffey and Armagh’s Annabel Wilson missed the one-over-par cutline.
Mehaffey posted a colourful round, making five birdies and six bogeys to shoot a one-over-par 73. Mehaffey was two-over-par heading into round two and missed the cut by one stroke.
Wilson struggled over the two days and couldn’t better her three-over-par first round score as she made three bogeys, a birdie, and a double bogey in round two to post a 76 to finish on seven-over.
There is a three-way tie for the lead as Denmark’s Smilla Tarning Soenderby, Germany’s Celina Sattelkau, and South Africa’s Casandra Alexander all sit at nine-under.
Soenderby was six-under through nine holes before a loss of form on the back nine where she made three bogeys and a double to post a three-under-par 69.
“I made it to the turn and became a little bit aware of where my score was at and some more people came and I thought it was going to be uncomfortable now. I feel like I managed to stay in it and then went a bit out of it in the end and lost the focus,” said the Dane.
“It was really tough mentally. A bit disappointed that I didn’t one hundred percent manage to keep it together there. It’s a good challenge. It’s always fun to try that,” she added.
Sattelkau posted a bogey free five-under-par 67 to better her round one scorecard by one stroke.
“I’m really happy about it,” said Sattelkau, who is a two-time winner on the Sunshine Ladies Tour. “Yesterday I was six-under after 13 and then finished with two bogeys, so going back on the birdie train pretty early today was a good sign,” she added.
Seven golfers share a tie for fourth at seven-under. Among those is France’s Agathe Laisne who broke the course record with a 64 in the first round. Laisne’s second round saw just a single bogey as she posted a one-over-par 73.
With 18 players within four strokes of the lead, Sunday’s final round sets up to be an exiting day.
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