Áine Donegan leads with sparkling 8-under round on pro debut - 'It was obviously a dream day'

Aine Donegan at the 2025 US Women's Open Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Clare's Áine Donegan enjoyed a dream start to her professional career by surging to the clubhouse lead at the rain-delayed Ford Women’s NSW Open at Wollongong links near Sydney.

With the first round suspended at lunchtime Thursday, Donegan played 36 holes on Friday in her first outing on the Ladies European Tour.

The 2024 Curtis Cup winner carded a sold -3 69 in her opening round and followed that up with a blistering 63 to lie 11-under at the top of the leaderboard.

That sparkling second round featured eagle at the ninth, her first hole, and birdies at 12, 14, 16 and 17 as she played her opening nine holes in 6-under.

She made further birdies at the first, second and fourth to reach 9-under before a bogey at the seventh.

“The weather felt a bit more like home, which I knew would come to my advantage a little bit,” Donegan said.

“I knew some people would struggle in the wind and the rain. I knew that if I just kind of kept the ball in front of me, especially off the tee on this course, you can kind of attack pins and stuff like that.

“It was obviously a dream day. I’m a little bit disappointed to finish my second last hole with a bogey, but looking forward to the weekend and yeah, delighted with the start.” .