Positive start for Irish at Ladies European Tour opener

Five Irish players teeing up at Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco

Sara Byrne shot a two-under 71 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (Blue Course). 

There were positive signs for the Irish rookies as the Ladies European Tour season kicked off in Morocco on Thursday.

Former Curtis Cup star Sara Byrne shot an opening round of two-under 71, four behind fellow rookie American Brianna Navarrosa, at the Lalla Meryem Cup.

Byrne, playing alongside Olivia Mehaffey at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam (Blue Course), racked up six birdies in her round, but also had four bogeys, including three-putt bogeys on three occasions. 

Anna Foster continued her fine form from Q-School to go one better after a 70.

Lauren Walsh, who had six top-10 finishes in her rookie season last year, shot a 75, the same mark as Mehaffey and another rookie, Annabel Wilson.

All the Irish players enjoyed dinner with Pádraig Harrington earlier in the week. 

Harrington is playing in the PGA Tour Champions Hassan II Trophy, taking place on the Red Course at the same venue. Harrington had an up-and-down round of one-under 72, three behind the early leaders, Englishman Simon Griffiths and reigning Charles Schwab Cup winner Steven Alker. 

This marks the first of 30 events on the LET in 2025, where the season will travel to five continents and have a total prize fund of €39m.

Laurie Canter is targeting a desert double in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters to boost his chances of securing a Masters debut. Picture:  Jacob King/PA

Meanwhile, Laurie Canter narrowly missed out on a hole-in-one as he made a strong start to his bid for back-to-back victories in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

Canter's tee shot on the eighth hole at Doha Golf Club caught the edge of the hole and finished just inches away to set up the first of five birdies in an eight-hole stretch in an opening four-under-par 68.

That left Canter two shots off the lead shared by fellow Englishman Brandon Robinson-Thompson and Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, with Italy's Andrea Pavan and England's Sam Bairstow on five under par.

Armenia's Jean Bekirian had reached four under after 16 holes before play was suspended due to darkness, with 12 players yet to complete round one.

Canter claimed his second DP World Tour title on Sunday, beating compatriot Dan Brown and Spain's Pablo Larrazabal in a play-off to win the Bahrain Championship.

That lifted the 35-year-old to a career-high 51st in the world rankings, with the top 50 at the end of March earning an invite to the year's first major championship at Augusta National.

Asked about coming close to a hole-in-one, Canter said: "That was exciting. I actually thought that was going to go in.

"It looked when it went over that hill that it was just tracking right for the hole. It was looking good for a long time. It was good number, I just had to not bail out right and hit a proper shot and it was a good result.

"I played pretty solid (overall) tee to green once we got out of the first few holes that are playing quite tricky. I drove the ball well, hit a lot of good iron shots to give myself a lot of chances.

"Lovely putt I holed on 15 and gave myself three good chances coming in but couldn't make any of them go. But 68 is a good start."

Dubliner Conor Purcell was on one-under-par after 17 holes when play finished due to bad light.