Coughlan back in the title hunt

CORK’S Claire Coughlan overcame a disappointing start to the second round of the European Amateur Ladies Individual Championship at Shannon yesterday to post a one under par 72 and get herself back into contention in the title race.

The 23 year old’s position near the top of the leaderboard looked anything but rosy when she ran up three bogeys in the first six holes but, displaying real character, she hit back with three birdies before the turn.

The recently crowned Irish strokeplay champion had three putted the second and fourth holes and she lost another stroke to par when encountering trees at the sixth.

However, a seven iron to six feet got her back on the birdie trail at the next and further birdies at eight and nine saw her reach the turn in level par 39.

At the eighth, a splendid five wood to 12 feet set up the birdie and she got up and down from close range to beat par again at the next.

After some solid iron play on the back nine, she countered a bogey at the 15th with a birdie at the next and she finished with a flourish with another great birdie at the last.

Here she played a driver, five iron and six iron into the wind and cooly slotted a 15 footer to finish with 72 to remain level par for the tournament.

The Cork G.C. player is just two off the pace set by Sophie Walker of England and Swede Louisa Stahle on two under 144. She leads the Irish challenge as Tricia Mangan from Ennis, who like Coughlan opened with a 74, lost some ground yesterday with a two over 75. However, she is still in the top 10 in the 24-nation field.

As on the previous day, local hope Heather Nolan by going out of bounds with her opening tee shot to run up a seven. That proved too much of a burden and she had to settle for an 80, having hit 77 on day one.

There was an unfortunate ending to Tara Delaney’s championship hopes. The Carlow schoolgirl was disqualified after Wednesday’s opening round of 79, when, having dropped from staked trees without penalty, she later discovered that she should have penalised herself a shot but by then it was too late to alter the card.

The leading 70 after today’s third round qualify for the final 18 holes tomorrow.