Impressive Donegan delivers 'stress-free' 69 to lead home challenge at Irish Open

Aine Donegan of Ireland on the ninth green during day one of the 2026 KPMG Women’s Irish Open Golf Championship at The K Club in Straffan, Kildare. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

“Woah,” said Aine Donegan as the clutter of microphones swept forward. The 24-year old had been exiting the scorer’s hut after signing for a very acceptable three-under par 69 at a saturated K Club on day one of the KPMG Irish Open.

It felt like the first time all afternoon that the Ennis woman had lost her grip around the Palmer South course. She wasn’t long in recovering her composure and dissecting a round that leaves her as the highest ranked of a record 16 Irish players in the field.

Leona Maguire and early clubhouse leader Alessandra Fanali of Italy had by then declared that there was a low score in the course despite the almost incessant rain. South Africa’s Casandra Alexandra duly obliged hours later with a flawless nine-under 63.

Put the LET Order of Merit leader to one side and the field is bunched.

Donegan’s ability to plot her way around this place left her in a tie for ninth and just two shots off Fanali, Lily Humphries, Jana Melichova and Ana Dawson, all of whom share second spot on the ladder after their 67s.

Donegan and her new caddie, Harry Ewing, played the weather, brilliantly. The Clare woman basically took an extra club right the way around and they agreed departing 18 that the four birdies and one bogey amounted to a job very well done.

“Stress-free” was her take on the effort. The same could be said for her venture with Ewing.

“We’re both kind of big personalities. He’s a very proud Carlow man, I’m very proud to be from Clare, so we chat a bit about that and I give him a bit of stick. Carlow’s not very good with the GAA! He’s been brilliant, and he’s played a really important role in my career so far.” The darkening clouds had long rolled in by the time Donegan started work here, the sound of so many other pros bemoaning the conditions within earshot persuading her and Ewing that they would steer in the other direction and dig in for a right good go.

This is Donegan’s rookie year on tour after a superb amateur career that included appearances among the elite paid ranks at two US Opens. There have been ebbs and flows, from a strong start in Australia to a tougher stint in South Africa.

Finishing tenth at the PIF London Championship earlier this month, and going toe to toe with Charley Hull and others until a costly Sunday finish, was proof that she can handle this altitude, and she has already put together an impressive team to fuel that progress.

She has committed to flights to England just to work with her putting coach Lee Sullivan, while the work being done with coaches Gary Madden and Donal Scott, as well as sports psychologist Carl Morris, is clearly taking effect.

“I’ve a lot of good friends who hopefully will be coming this week, who manage to take my mind off golf. Like, I was at a wedding the Monday of London. I was at a wedding last Friday as well. Being able to still do them things, finding a good balance, is very important for me.” Maguire, in a share of 20th and set to feature at the upcoming Solheim Cup, is next best-placed for the home brigade, although she had reached two-under at one point. So had Canice Screene, through five holes, and amateur Kate Dillon after only three.

Anna Foster and Screene ended the day on level par, Olivia Maheffey somehow managed seven birdies and still only ended up with a one-over 73 thanks to a pair of double bogeys. Cork’s Sara Byrne ended with the same score with a little less drama.

Lauren Walsh, in her first year on the LPGA Tour, was five-over after careering to a triple bogey on the par-four 13th, but she fought brilliantly to find three birdies on the run in to limit the damage to a two-over 74. Dillon finished +4.

Alexander has finished runner-up in five LET events this term and once more on her native Sunshine Tour. She joked here about trying to prevent another by just getting ahead early on and she will be hard to catch if she keeps this up.

Ranked 38th on the worldwide Rolex Rankings, she has made it ten places higher. That is an unheard-of climb for any player who makes the bulk of their living on the Ladies European Tour and recoveries from past ankle and ACL injuries are evidence of her mettle.

The 27-year old thought she had ‘only’ shot a 65 here, not a 63, as she came off the course. The reason was simple: no point checking in on the leaderboard and loading pressure on herself when standing over a three-footer.

“It’s important to stay patient with conditions like this. It made some tougher holes easier and some easier holes tougher today and it's just accepting that that's… “I mean, one of the par fives I hit it in the rough, I had a seven-iron to lay up and a four-iron into it, and it's kind of just accepting that that's a five and [that there are] other ones I've made birdies on.

“So it's kind of just going with the flow and keeping it in the correct spaces that we were trying to play in.”