Ross leads Irish Women's Close qualifiers
Jessica Ross (Clandeboye) during the first round of the Irish Women’s Close, Woodbrook, Bray, Wicklow, Ireland. 20/06/2019. Picture Fran Caffrey / Golffile.ie
Clandeboye's Jessica Ross took multi-tasking to the next level when she fired rounds of 70 and 73 to lead the qualifiers for the Irish Women's Close Championship at Woodbrook.
She claimed the Leitrim Cup on five-under par and has her eye on more silverware come the end of the weekend despite having the responsibility of a full-time job.
"I come home from work and practice most evenings at the Academy at Carton House," said the 23-year-old who works from Athlone but lives outside Maynooth.
"It's got great facilities, so it's quite easy to motivate myself to go there after a day's work!"
Despite an opening round of four under, Ross struggled to get going early in the second round and found herself three over after four holes.
"I don't even think I played that badly on the first few this afternoon; I just hadn't woken up again after lunch! It took me a while to get going again, but I held from about 50 feet on 18 to get back under par to finish, which was nice."
Ross and her playing partner Paula Grant completed the 36 holes in under six and a half hours in total.
Grant opened with a 76 but rallied in the afternoon to shoot the score of the day, a five under par 69 to finish joint second with Lurgan's Annabel Wilson and Castlewarden's Lauren Walsh.
"This morning was a wee bit frustrating, I felt like I hit it well, I just didn't take my opportunities on the par fives, so the goal in the afternoon was to take care of them which I managed to do," Grant said. "I played a lot better in the second round and holed some putts, which was good."
Grant admits the key to scoring on the sea-side Bray course is its longer holes.
"There are three par fives in the space of four holes towards the end of the round so you kind of think, right, this is your chance to make a few birdies and get a score going. And that's what I did in the afternoon – I birdied the last four!"
Walsh, who finished her Leaving Cert exams the day before the Championship, matched Grant and Wilson with the exact scores she shot to win the Woodbrook Scratch Cup here earlier in the year.
"I had a week off in the middle of my exams last week, so I played nine then, but that's all the golf I've played in the last few weeks," she said.
"I played better this afternoon, but sort of got a little tired towards the end – I didn't birdie the par fives that a lot of others probably did, but I'm looking forward to a rest this evening to be ready to go again tomorrow."
Wilson also finished on 145 while Shannon Burke completed the top five qualifiers, two shots further back on 143.
The Championship now progresses to the matchplay stages where the top 32 have qualified for the first flight. The next 16 have qualified to play in the Ita Wallace Trophy.
Irish Women’s Close Championship, Woodbrook (Par 74)
Strokeplay qualifying
143 J Ross (Clandeboye) 70 73;
145 P Grant (Lisburn) 76 69, L Walsh (Castlewarden) 74 71, A Wilson (Lurgan) 71 74;
147 S Burke (Ballinrobe) 72 75;
148 A Dawson (Tramore) 74 74;
149 G Carr (Bakers Bay) 76 73, A Foster (Elm Park) 71 78, B Coulter (Kirkistown Castle) 71 78;
151 N McSherry (Lurgan) 77 74;
152 L Coffey (Malone) 77 75, D Smith (Co. Louth) 74 78;
153 E Metcalfe (Laytown & Bettystown) 72 81;
154 L Simpson (Massereene) 80 74;
155 M Cummins (Lurgan) 82 73, J Browne (Kilkenny) 81 74, L Mernagh (Elm Park) 77 78, C Casey (Hermitage) 76 79;
156 S Phillips (Woodbrook) 80 76, M Dunne (Skerries) 78 78, R Thompson (Cork) 78 78;
157 M O'Hara (Clandeboye) 82 75, S Byrne (Douglas) 81 76, S Sexton (Lahinch) 80 77, V Clancy (Killarney) 75 82;
158 C Griffin (Killarney) 85 73, E Murray (Co. Louth) 80 78;
159 E Gilmore (Westmanstown) 83 76;
160 K O'Hart (Courtown) 83 77, P Walsh (Doneraile) 80 80, R Gardner (Carnalea) 79 81;
161 M Dowling (Lucan) 84 77;
— Championship cut —
161 C O'Grady (Black Bush) 81 80, U Marsden (Tullamore) 76 85;
162 L Masding (Old Conna) 86 76, S Cunningham (Ennis) 81 81;
163 E Corcoran (Grange) 81 82;
164 N Coffey (Woodbrook) 81 83, K Poots (Knock) 80 84, C Coughlan (Douglas) 77 87;
165 V Austin (Nenagh) 85 80;
166 R McDonnell (Elm Park) 86 80, J Allen (Royal Portrush ) 83 83;
167 H Hall (Enniscrone) 84 83, L Kelly (Ballykisteen) 82 85, E Fenlon (Grange) 81 86, J O'Driscoll (Muskerry) 80 87;
168 S McGuinness (Greenore) 85 83;
169 O Costello (Roscommon) 85 84, E Fleming (Elm Park) 80 89;
170 G O'Leary (The Island) 84 86;
171 C Hopkins (Woodbrook) 88 83, M Rooney (Co. Sligo) 82 89;
172 C Martyn (Headfort) 91 81, E Thorne (Elm Park) 87 85, C Hewitt (Courtown) 84 88, M McEvoy (Bangor) 83 89, S O' Brien (Elm Park) 81 91;
173 A O'Donnell (Royal Portrush) 90 83, S Burke (Mullingar) 89 84;
174 L Murray (Delgany) 88 86;
176 M Doyle (The Heath) 91 85, C Shippam (Ballykisteen) 86 90;
177 K Fleming (Elm Park) 90 87;
179 K O'Keeffe (Tralee) 89 90;
182 N O'Dwyer (Lahinch) 91 91;
NR 85 X Rama (Carton House);
WD 0 M Sharkey (Monkstown);
RTD 0 K Coey (Clandeboye).
