Irish Women’s Champion Lisa Maguire leads the field by four strokes following a sensational opening 66 and an equally impressive afternoon 73 at the 3 Irish Women’s Open Strokeplay at Douglas Golf Club.

In blustery but dry conditions, Maguire opened her championship with two bogeys but five birdies over her next seven holes saw her turn three under par and a further five birdies over the front nine at Douglas saw her sign for a sensational morning round of seven under par and a four shot lead at lunchtime.

Maguire went on to coast around the 6149 yard course in level par in the afternoon to lead the field by four strokes with just 18 holes remaining.

Next best was Scotland’s Jane Turner who battled the blustery conditions to return an impressive three under par 70 in the morning and a level par round in the afternoon sees her comfortably hold second place. Four shots further behind sees Lisa’s twin sister Leona, after steady rounds of 73 and 74, who shares third place with England’s Hannah Burke and Australian’s Stacey Keating and Julia Boland.

In the team event, Ireland lead Scotland by 2 shots followed by Australia in third place, 5 shots further back.

The top forty players who survived today’s 36 hole cut commence their final round at 8.30am on Sunday with the leaders teeing off at 10.50am. Spectators are welcome to come along to what surely must be Lisa Maguire’s finest hour as she attempts to add the Irish Open Strokeplay title to her Irish Close Championship win in May and become Ireland’s first winner since Martina Gillen’s victory in 2006.

IRISH WOMEN’S OPEN STROKEPLAY – leaders after 36 holes (CSS 75 75)
139 Lisa Maguire (Slieve Russell) 66 73
143 Jane Turner (SCO) 70 73
147 Hannah Burke (ENG) 74 73 Julia Boland (AUS) 74 73 Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) 73 74 Stacey Keating (AUS) 72 75
148 Kym Larratt (ENG) 76 72 Kelly Tidy (ENG) 75 73 Laure Castelain (FRA) 73 75
149 Sarah Cunningham (Ennis) 78 71 Pamela Pretswell (SCO) 76 73 Tara Davies (WAL) 74 75
150 Louise Mernagh (Woodenbridge) 77 73 Manon Gidali (FRA) 75 75 Laura McCarthy (Muskerry) 74 76 Laura Murray (SCO) 74 76
151 Rebecca Flood (AUS) 77 74
152 Carly Booth (SCO) 81 71 Ciara Butler (Newlands) 75 77
153 Rhian Wyn Thomas (WAL) 79 74 Mary Dowling (New Ross) 78 75 Rachel Jennings (ENG) 76 77 Annika Korkeila (FIN) 76 77 Tara Watters (ENG) 75 78
154 Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway) 80 74 Charlotte Wild (ENG) 78 76 Emma O'Driscoll (Ballybunion) 74 80 Charlene Reid (Royal Portush) 74 80 Caroline Bon (NZL) 73 81
155 Gemma Bradbury (WAL) 78 77
156 Karen O'Neill (Douglas) 78 78 Sarah Faller (Galway) 76 80
157 Sarah Crowe (Tipperary) 79 78 Karen Delaney (Carlow) 79 78 Tilly Holder (ENG) 78 79 Charlie Douglass (ENG) 77 80 Aedin Murphy (Carlow) 74 83
158 Amy Boulden (WAL) 81 77 Victoria Bradshaw (Bangor) 77 81
159 Shauna O'Brien (Clonmel) 77 82

NON-QUALIFIERS (par +14)
160 Gillian O'Leary (Cork) 85 75 Sue Phillips (Woodbrook) 77 83
161 Minna Vuorenpaa (FIN) 84 77 Rachel Cassidy (The Island) 80 81 Lillian Harrington (East Cork) 79 82
162 Lucy Simpson (Massereene) 82 80
162 Niamh Kitching (Claremorris) 81 81 Aoife Lowry (Tipperary) 78 84
163 Fiona Howard (ENG) 86 77 Anne McCormack (Roscommon) 82 81 Jerry Lawrence (ENG) 79 84
164 Rebecca Watson (SCO) 85 79 Ailish Thompson (Douglas) 83 81 Catherine Tucker (Limerick) 80 84
166 Emma Gilmore (Mountbellew) 84 82
168 Rhona Brennan (Bandon) 86 82 Sarah Murray (Co. Louth) 85 83 Maria Dunne (Skerries) 82 86
170 Nicole Garcia (RSA) 83 87
171 Suzy Sheehan (The Island) 87 84 Jean Farrell (Youghal) 86 85 Lynda Maher ( Charleville) 86 85
174 Daisy-May Kenny (ENG) 82 92
177 Claire Keating (Charleville) 89 88
178 Val Shannon (Douglas) 87 91
179 Vivian Gallin (GER) 88 91
181 Mary Lowney (Dunmore) 92 89

TEAM EVENT
286 IRELAND Niamh Kitching [81] [81] Leona Maguire 73 74 Lisa Maguire 66 73
288 SCOTLAND Carly Booth [81] 71 Laura Murray 74 [76] Jane Turner 70 73
293 AUSTRALIA Julia Boland 74 73 Rebecca Flood [77] 74 Stacey Keating 72 [75]
298 FRANCE Laure Castelain 73 75 Manon Gidali 75 75
300 ENGLAND Kym Larratt 76 72 Rachel Jennings 76 [77] Charlotte Wild [78] 76
302 WALES Amy Boulden [81] [77] Tara Davies 74 75 Rhian Wyn Thomas 79 74
314 FINLAND Annika Korkeila 76 77 Mina Vuorenpaa 84 77