Lauren Walsh has surged into the lead at the halfway point of the Tenerife Women's Open at Abama Golf.
After an opening round of 67 to share the first-round lead, Walsh fired in a neat 68 to sit two shots clear of nearest challenger Shannon Tan with the Singaporean rattling off four birdies in her final five holes to move to seven-under par.
Denmark's Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen, who for so long looked like she would be the player to put the most pressure on Walsh's clubhouse lead, finished with a double bogey to form part of a seven-player cohort in a tie for third on five-under.
Walsh, chasing her maiden success on the Ladies European Tour, started with a bogey on the first but a run of six birdies in 10 holes saw her temporarily move to 10-under par.
Back-to-back bogeys at the 13th and 14th suggested a stumble, but a fine approach at the par-five 17th allowed her to get back to nine-under with a missed birdie putt at the last preventing her from matching Thursday's score.
"It was a good day's work," Walsh said afterwards. "I hit the ball really nicely but didn’t hole quite as many putts as yesterday. It was nice to make a birdie on 17 to get one of those bogeys back.
"I gave myself some chances on the front nine and converted them. It’s a tricky golf course so it doesn’t take too much to get out of position and make a bogey.
"But overall I’m really happy with how I handled myself. Plenty of positives to take away. Golf is golf and everyone is going to make bogeys. I’m happy I put those behind me and pushed on."
It was a nightmare day, however, for some of the other Irish golfers in the field, none more so than Anna Foster whose promising opening 71 was followed by a disastrous 82 to leave her on nine-over par, well outside the cut-line of three-over.
Starting on the 10th, Foster had a triple-bogey and a double-bogey on her card in the first four holes with her scorecard dotted with five further bogeys.
After starting with a 75, Canice Screene knew that a good round was required to make the weekend but she ended up one 12-over after an 81 that also included a triple-bogey.
Annabel Wilson is also set to miss the cut after carding a 75 to leave her on eight-over par.
Sara Byrne, however, shot an excellent 71 to give her an outside chance of making it through to Saturday, but she ended up in a tie for 62nd, one stroke off the weekend's action. A bogey on her penultimate hole – the eighth – ultimately proved decisive.
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