Coulter just two shots off the pace at defenceless Baltray
Beth Coulter (Kirkistown Castle) on the second tee during round one of the Irish Women's & Girls Amateur Open Championship, Co. Louth Golf Club, Baltray. Picture © Golffile | Thos Caffrey
Kirkistown Castle's Beth Coulter is praying for wind over the weekend after a four-under 70 left her just two strokes off the pace after the opening round of the Irish Women's and Girls' Amateur Open Championship at County Louth.
Runner up in the Girls' Amateur Championship this summer, international Coulter made six birdies and two bogeys to share fourth place at Baltray, where Finland's Aada Rissanen took advantage of benign conditions to fire a six-under 66 for a one-shot lead over Sweden's Moa Svedenskiöld and German's Charlotte Back in both the Women’s and Girls’ championships.
"I didn't do anything spectacular, really," Coulter said. "A couple of par fives, I made some silly mistakes, but on the par fours, I gave myself some good chances for birdie and hit some good wedges in."
Coulter had a hectic summer schedule but returned to playing camogie with her club Ballygallet last month.
"After the Girls' Amateur, I wanted a little bit of a break and to slow things down, so I got back into camogie the last few weeks and enjoyed that," she said.
She's also keen to record her second win of the season after retaining the Irish Girls Close title at Tramore in July.
"I was surprised with the conditions today. We'll never get a day like that again," she said. "It was so sunny and very little wind, so hopefully, that will blow a bit more tomorrow and play into our favour."
Aada Rissanen (Aura) on the second tee during round one of the Irish Women's & Girls Amateur Open Championship at Co. Louth Golf Club, Baltray. Picture © Golffile | Thos Caffrey
Rissanen carded five birdies and an eagle three at the ninth in a career-low round of 68.
"It was my all-time best round, so I'm very happy to start this tournament with that," she said. "The course played somewhat easy today; I got a lot of good rolls from my drives, so some of the par fives were short, and I made some very good putts to make some birdies."
As for the wind forecast for the weekend, the leader is not too concerned.
“We don’t play links golf in Finland but I’ve played some, and I’m prepared for the wind to change directions, maybe it will get windier over the next couple of days but that’s OK,” she said.
Svedenskiöld and Back are tied for second after five-under 69s with Coulter joint fourth on 4-under alongside Tesssa Kremser, also from Germany.
The top 50 and ties after today's second round will qualify for tomorrow's final round.
Finland and Germany 2 share the lead in the Nations Cup with Ireland 2, represented by Coulter, Katie Poots (73) and Paula Grant (82) in third place.
Irish Women's & Girls Amateur Open Championship, County Louth (Par 74)
1st rd.
68 A Rissanen (Aura Golf);
69 M Svedenskiöld (Ringenäs), C Back (St. Leon- Rot);
70 B Coulter (Kirkistown Castle), T Kremser (Frankfurter);
71 S O'Dwyer (The Wynyard);
72 E Nordstedt (Söderåsens), M Kraus (GC St. Leon-Rot), M Fischer (Munich), E von Finckenstein (Hamburger);
73 K Poots (Knock), V Levy (Lausanne);
74 Y Beeli (Semparchersee), N Maertz (MGA), M Joyce-Moreno (Lllavaneras), A Hekkonen (Tuusulan Golfklubi), G Mayo (Newport (Gwent);
75 R Gardner (Clandeboye), K O'Connor (West Byfleet), J Haines (Burnham & Berrow);
76 M O'Hara (Clandeboye), A Roth (Golf Uppsala), C Brook (Parkstone);
77 E Larsson (St Arilds), C Hastings (Royal Birkdale), A Hios (MGA), H Holden (Huddersfield), M Samervong (Landeryds), D Smith (Co. Louth), N Borg (Ringenäs Golfklubb), C Walsh (Castlewarden), A Walsh (Lahinch), F Lindblom (Delsjo);
78 K Dwyer (Rossmore), H Guerin (Royal Tara), K Anglett (Stuttgarter Solitude), C Shippam (Ballykisteen), N Wiktorson (Oijared), S O'Brien (Elm Park Golf & Sports Club), L Coffey (Malone), E Lundgren (Villa Condulmer);
79 E O'Shaughnessy (Co. Louth), S Harz (Golfclub Freiburg), I Lindqvist (Timra), L Jones (Wrexham), F Birch (Pennard), T Laverty (Royal Portrush), E Krause (Golfclub Berlin Wannsee ), E Levy (Lausanne), E Henningsson (Gränna Golfklubb), O Lucas (Lahinch);
80 K Dillon (Oughterard), O Currie (Royal Portrush), O Costello (Roscommon), A Molloy (Sandy Lodge), A Greham (Ballina), C Griffin (Killarney), R Taylor (Laytown & Bettystown);
81 S Schifferegger (Pustertal), A Pitts (Cainhoe Wood);
82 M Björkman (Kumla), P Grant (Lisburn), O Purfield-Goulding (Co. Louth), M McLoughlin (Co. Sligo);
83 J O'Driscoll (Muskerry), M Abernethy (Cork), B Pyke (Overstone Park);
84 S McElroy (Grange), E Murray (Co. Louth), L Lemström (Pickala);
85 E Fenlon (Grange), E Park (Edmondstown), A Abom (Edmondstown), S Benedetti (Roscommon);
86 L Kelly (Ballykisteen), L Dancis (Grange Castle);
87 S Bullock (Castletroy);
90 E Earl (Thorndon Park);
92 E Proctor (Royal Portrush);
93 S Sharp (Royal Tara), M Byrne (Baltinglass);
94 R Wall (Forrest Little);
99 E Lonergan (Westport);
102 J Currie (Royal Portrush).
