Decision time for Sara Byrne as she sweats outside cut line in Women's Irish Open
Sara Byrne sat outside the projected cut line following her second round of the KPMG Women's Irish Open as Carton House: Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Sara Byrne was left praying for the windy conditions to continue for the later starters after she finished outside the projected cut line in the KPMG Women’s Irish Open at Carton.
The 24-year-old Douglas rookie is trying to combine the Ladies European Tour with the chase for 10 cards on the LPGA’s second tier Epson Tour this year.
Playing on both sides of the pond is a challenge for even the best players in the world and after adding a 74 to her opening 75 to sit a shot outside the projected cut mark on three-over in Co Kildare, Byrne admitted she may soon have to make a decision about which tour to play for the rest of the season.
“Halfway through the year, I'd probably say yes, just because it's maybe not going my way at the moment,” Byrne said when asked if she wished she had just one card rather than two. “The Ladies European Tour is great: more money, more world ranking points, a little bit closer to home. But I want to get to the LPGA, and it seems to be the only way to do it.
“I know it's a really hard to say, yeah, one tour is better, but then I want to get to the LPGA, so it's definitely difficult in a rookie year trying to figure out everything on two tours as well.
"So look, lots of learning, and that's all I wanted to do this year.” Byrne lies 66th in the LET’s Order of Merit which means she’s on track to retain her European Tour card.
But with no pathway from the LET to the LPGA Tour, she needs to make the top 10 in the Epson Tour’s money list or go through Q-School to win playing rights on the game’s biggest tour.
She’s 94th in the Epson Tour’s “Race For The Card” standings this week after making three of six cuts and knows she may soon have to decide on one tour over another.
“I don't know. It's kind of up in the air at the moment,” she confessed. “I might have to make that decision.
“It’s hard to play both tours but that's what the best players in the world have to do.
“Charley (Hull) and Georgia (Hall) go over there and they come back. So just learning that is the name of the game really. It's been tough. It's been a hard year but we are getting there.”
After carding a two-over 75 in round one, Byrne bogeyed the 10th and 14th to slip to four-over for the tournament before rallying with four birdies in a row from the first in winds gusting well over 40 kpmh.
But a wild drive into what she described as a “shocking” lie in heavy rough at the fifth, where she failed to get out at the first attempt, led to a damaging double bogey six.
Another shot went when she spun off the green at the eighth and after ending the day on three-over she needed help from the field to have any chance of making the cut.
“I was waiting for some putts to drop and they finally did,” she said. “But just one wayward drive there cost me a double. It's been a fight from the start. It’s seemed like I was just trying to claw my way back the whole week.
“My plan is to go back to the US, but it's kind of all up in the air. I decide week in, week out, what I want to do and when I need a break and stuff like that, because crossing the Atlantic isn't the easiest of things.”
Despite her struggles, she believes she’s close to her best golf.
“It's so close,” she said. “It's just my ball striking just feels a little bit off. My proximity to the hole this week hasn't been that great, and I’m not giving myself that many chances.
“I feel like I'm not playing well, and seem to be missing the cut by one a lot, and that hurts even more than missing by 10, I think. But it is what it is. We have to keep working, keep getting better.”
If it was a struggle for Byrne, her 2024 Curtis Cup winning team mate Lottie Woad made the game look easy as she added a six-under 67 to her opening 68 to lead by four shots in the clubhouse from Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley, (68) and England’s Charley Hull (69) in a three-club wind.
The 21-year-old English amateur is closing to earning her LPGA Tour card via the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway standings and could have that wrapped up by next week if she makes the cut and finishes in the top 25 in the Evian Championship.
“Yeah, it definitely feels good,” Woad said of her game.
“Played tougher than yesterday. I thought that after playing the afternoon yesterday it might be a bit more calm this morning and it wasn’t. But I played pretty well.”
Rookie Canice Screene was the best of the Irish on two-over after a 75 with Byrne a shot further back as the main Irish contenders set off in windy afternoon conditions.
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