ALEXANDER FINDS ROUTE 66 TO LEAD KPMG WOMEN’S IRISH OPEN

First round leader Casandra Alexander kept her foot firmly on the pedal at the K-Club yesterday when, starting her second round on the 10th tee, she opened eagle, birdie, birdie on her way to a 6-under-par round of 66, added to her opening course record 63, for a 15-under-par total of 129 to hold the halfway lead at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.

“Not as tidy as yesterday,” The South African said. “I left some putts right in the throat and had some awkward wedge numbers. But overall pretty good. It was always going to be hard to follow up yesterday’s round. Sometimes that’s really difficult to get two days really flowing and going. Two eagles helped the situation. Six-under, I’m very happy.

“My caddie said to me after yesterday, if we can just get a red number on day two that would be pretty good because your expectations always go up after you shoot nine-under. I then started eagle-birdie-birdie… I just looked at my caddie [Douglas], laughed and said, ‘shut up, let’s go to the next tee! Let’s move on.’” 

Alexander currently leads the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit with five runner-up finishes to her name. A one-time winner on the circuit, a victory which came at last year’s Tisport Czech Ladies Open, Alexander finished T10 at The Amundi Evian Championship last month before having a difficult stretch in the UK by her own high standards.

“Consistency is key,” the 27-year-old said. “I’ve shown that I have that. I did say at the beginning of the week, if we are going to win, we’re going to make sure we win by a few because I’m not going to leave it up to chance. We’ve come short a few times but they’ve all been different situations. Winning golf tournaments is important, but the Order of Merit is something which is really important. It’s something only a few have achieved. It shows you’ve played well over the whole year but I definitely need to get a couple of wins before we get to that.”

In a tie for second on 10-under par sit Sara Kouskova from the Czech Republic and Brianna Navarrosa of the USA. The former, a two-time LET winner, matched Alexander’s 66 (-6) on Friday to shoot up the leaderboard and continue her fine summer.

Canice Screene leads the Irish challenge making seven birdies in her final 12 holes on day two to post a 67 (-5). She sits T8 heading into the weekend on five-under par. Solheim Cup winner Leona Maguire, the World No 82, sit T26 on two-under par after a second consecutive round of 71 (-1). The scorecard included two bogeys in her final three holes.

Screene said: “It’s always my favourite event of the year and my family are here, so staying around for the weekend and putting on a good show for them is my priority. Obviously it’s a good opportunity for me to move up the LET Order of Merit and also gain confidence for going back on the LET Access Series (LETAS) next week.”

After 36 holes of action, 60 players made it through to the weekend after the cut fell at even-par. This included six Irish players: Screene, Maguire, Aine Donegan, Anna Foster, Annabel Wilson and Lauren Walsh.

Photo: Casandra Alexander (by Mark Runnacles / LET)