Coulter three back as McClymont shoots course record 67 at Woodbrook
Kirkistown Castle’s Beth Coulter slipped three shots off the lead in the Flogas Irish Women’s and Girls’ Amateur Open Championship as Scotland’s Lorna McClymont shot another course record to take a three-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round.
Reigning champion McClymont shot a seven-under 67, playing her last five holes in five-under par to lead on 13-under from Coutler with England’s Jessica Hall a shot further back in third after a 68,
Milngavie’s McClymont youngster is in red-hot form and she will be the one to beat tomorrow but Coulter, who has just returned from NCAA action with Arizona State University, knows she has the game to stay in touch on Sunday.
Leader Lorna McClymont surveys her shot during Round 2 of the Flogas Irish Women's and Girls' Amateur Open Championship. Photo: Thos Caffrey / Golffile.
“It’s important that I had a few birdies coming in to try and close the gap a little. I’ll go and work a bit on pace-putting this afternoon and hopefully, that will be good tomorrow,” said Coulter.
“It was another slow day, a bit sloppy in the middle but I kind of got it going after 13 or 14. A few birdies and I hit a few good shots and nailed the putts so it was nice.
“I left a lot short today in the first maybe 12 holes. A couple of my drives I left in the rough and some of those holes the rough is very thick. Especially the Par 5s, you want to be able to be going for the greens in two and I wasn’t able to.
“But it was nice to have the couple of birdies coming in and it gives me a bit of momentum going into tomorrow.”
Coulter and McClymont were out early on Saturday morning and the Scot left it until late on the back nine to distance herself from the field.
She eagled the 14th and birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th but Coulter kept up the chase with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th.
After her hole-in-one on Friday, England’s Hall shot seven birdies on her way to a 68 and third place overall while Roscommon’s Olivia Costello and Hermitage’s Kate Lanigan are both in touch on seven and six-under respectively.
“It was good today,” McClymont said of her finish. “The weather is good again so there are good chances out there. It was a bit of a slow start so it was nice to do that.
“It’s good to have that with Beth, yeah and it’s nice to be out first. Obviously, there is a bit of pressure with last year so yeah, definitely.”
Flogas Irish Women’s and Girls’ Amateur Open, Woodbrook (Par 74)
135 L McClymont (Milngavie Golf Club) 68 67
138 B Coulter (Kirkistown Castle GC) 68 70,
139 J Hall (Bishop Auckland) 71 68,
141 O Costello (Roscommon golf club) 72 69,
142 K Lanigan (Hermitage) 71 71,
143 L Thompson (Pavenham Park) 69 74,
145 C Coughlan (Douglas) 73 72, M Joyce-Moreno (Club de Golf Llavaneras) 73 72,
146 O Williams (Churchill and Blakedown) 76 70,
147 E O Shaughnessy (Co. Louth GC) 75 72, P Rhodes (Burnham & Berrow) 74 73,
148 E Fleming (Elm Park) 76 72, H Lee-McNamara (Royal Portrush) 72 76, B Persson Lidgren (Lunds akademiska golfklubb) 72 74,
149 A Abom (Edmondstown) 77 72, A Dawson (Tramore) 76 73, K Poots (Knock) 78 71, R Scanlon (Woburn) 74 75,
150 E Liljeberg (Vasatorps GK) 77 73, G Mayo (Royal Porthcawl) 78 72, A Walsh (Lahinch) 75 75,
151 C Brook (Parkstone) 76 75, E Murray (County Louth) 76 75, K O'Connor (West Byfleet) 75 76,
152 N Coffey (Woodbrook) 76 76, K Dillon (Oughterard) 74 78, R McDonnell (Elm Park) 79 73, S Phillips (Woodbrook) 76 74, A Pitts (Cainhoe Wood) 75 77, C Shippam (Ballykisteen golf club) 77 75,
153 E Lundqvist (AIK GOLF) 83 70, A Molloy (Sandy Lodge) 78 75, C O’Grady (Blackbush) 80 73, D Walsh (Milltown) 79 74,
154 E O'Gorman (Laytown & Bettystown) 81 77, V Prietzel (Goring & Streatley) 79 75,
155 E Holmgren (Djursholms Golfklubb) 79 76,
156 F Birch (Pyle & Kenfig) 79 77, N O'Grady (Blackbush) 74 82, K O'Brien (Howth) 80 76, L Webb (Royal Portrush) 80 76,
157 K Dwyer (Rossmore) 77 80, T Eakin (Dooks) 79 78, T Hatton (Abbekås Golfklubb) 76 81, S McGuinness (Greenore) 75 82, E Park (Edmondstown) 80 77,
158 Z McLean-Tattan (Romford) 83 75 K Mulholland (Moyola Park) 78 80, J O'Gara (Grange) 79 79,
159 O Darcy (Naas) 80 79, F Halpin (Dun Laoghaire) 79 80, M McLoughlin (County Sligo) 77 82, G McMullen (The Island) 81 78.
Communications and Media Manager at Golf Ireland