Maguire catches fire in nick of time

Aine Donegan on the 16th pictured during round 2 of the KPMG Womens Irish Open in Dromoland Castle, Newmarket On Fergus, Clare today. Pic. Brian Arthur

Leona Maguire produced a scintillating finish and picked up five shots in her last five holes to go into the weekend just six shots off the lead in the KPMG Women's Irish Open.

The world number 17, 10 strokes behind at halfway 12 months ago before rallying to finish a shot outside a playoff, was on the cut line with five holes to play.

But she went birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie from the 14th to card a three-under 69 and go into the weekend tied for 20th with Olivia Mehaffey (71) on four-under-par.

She's six behind Indian left-hander Diksha Dagar, who added a 69 to her opening 65 to lead by a shot on 10-under par from the Netherlands' Anne Van Dam (66), American Gurleen Kaur (69) and France's Emma Grechi (69) as six of the ten Irish in action, including four amateurs, made the cut.

"I've a lot of people here want to see me over the weekend," said Maguire, who turned in one-over and then slipped to the one-over cut line when she plugged her tee shot at the par-three 13th.

"I felt like I was playing a lot better than the score showed, so nice to show that in the closing few holes."

The Co Cavan star birdied the 14th and 15th, then rolled in a seven-footer for eagle at the 16th before making a four-footer for a two at the next to keep her hopes alive.

"Anything is possible," she said. "It is one of those things, think it is going to take two low ones over the weekend. It is not really a golf course you can chase on.

"I feel like you have to let it happen because there are some tricky holes out there and with it playing that bit longer and softer than last year if you get out of position at all and find yourself in a little bit of bother."

It was also a brilliant day for four Irish amateurs as they also made the cut.

Hermitage's Kate Lanigan shot a 69 to share 29th on three-under with Douglas' Sara Byrne two-under after a bogey-free 68 - the first of her career in a strokeplay event.

Elm Park's Emma Fleming shot 72 to make the one-over cut on the mark alongside Kirkistown Castle's Beth Coulter, who birdied the last to also shoot 72.

In the Omega European Masters, Matt Fitzpatrick remained on track to make it a hat-trick of wins after he followed his opening 63 with a 65 to take a one-shot lead into the weekend.

Champion 2017 and 2018, he celebrated his 29th birthday by moving to 12-under, a shot ahead of Swede Alexander Björk (64).

Fitzpatrick's younger brother Alex is two behind on 10-under alongside Frenchman Romain Langasque.

Fitzpatrick can claim the final Ryder Cup qualifying spot from the world points list with a tie for seventh, pushing Tommy Fleetwood into wildcard territory.

Robert MacIntyre, Adrian Meronk, Adrian Otaegui and Yannick Paul can mathematically qualify through the European Points List.

Meronk, who needs a tie for second with one other to have a chance shot 64 -to share fifth on nine-under alongside wildcard hope Ludvig Aberg and Renato Paratore.

Meronk's playing partner MacIntyre kept his hopes alive after making a vital up and down at the 18th to make the cut at three under par.

Tom McKibbin's 67 left him tied on five-under with Pádraig Harrington, who shot 68 while Kinsale's John Murphy made two cuts running for the first time in his rookie season with a 68, leaving him joint 50th on four-under.

In amateur golf, Ireland has a quartet of players teeing it up in the 49th Walker Cup match on the Old Course at St Andrews where Great Britain and Ireland are bidding to deny the USA a fourth successive victory.

Kilkenny's Mark Power partners England's Barclay Brown in the opening foursomes against Dylan Menante and world amateur number one Gordon Sargent, hoping the home crowd makes a difference.

"We'll definitely be leaning on the home crowd to give us a little extra support, but we're all really going to embrace it," Power said. "It's going to be amazing."

Malone's Matthew McClean and England's John Gough face Preston Summerhays and David Ford in the third match with Laytown and Bettystown's Alex Maguire and James Ashfield taking on Nick Dunlap and veteran Stewart Hagestad in the anchor match.

In the singles, Galway's Liam Nolan will face Austin Greaser as Power takes on Ford, McClean plays Summerhays and Maguire faces Hagestad.

At the First Stage of the DP World Tour Q-School, Castle's Robert Moran made the Second Stage for the second year running after he closed with a three-under 67 at the Players Club in Bristol to finish tied 10th on two-over as 19 players progressed.