Foster heads four-pronged Irish bid for LET cards into final day at Lalla Aicha Q-School
Anna Foster in action of round four of the Lalla Aicha Q-School in Morocco. Picture: Tristan Jones/LET
Anna Foster leads a four-strong Irish challenge for Ladies European Tour cards into the fifth and final round of the Lalla Aicha Q-School in Morocco.
The Elm Park star (23) carded a two-under 70 in her fourth round at Royal Golf Marrakech to go into the final day in fifth place on 13-under, six shots behind Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea.
Annabel Wilson, Sara Byrne and amateur Canice Screene are also well-placed to win full cards in Marrakech.
Wilson shot a four-under 69 at Al Maaden Golf Marrakech to share ninth on 11-under with Douglas star Byrne joint 13th on eight-under after a 72 there.
Reigning Irish Women’s Close champion Screene shot a one-under 71 at Royal Golf to share 26th on five-under, leaving her just one shot outside the top 20.
Players finishing the top 20 and ties will be awarded strong Category 12 cards today with those finishing between 21st and 50th exempt in Category 16.
“It’s funny, I shot one-under here the other day, and I felt like I played a lot better here today and I was reminding myself of that throughout the round when I wasn’t at the same score,” Foster said after making three birdies in her last four holes.
“I stayed super patient and kept grinding it out and finally, a few dropped towards the end which was great to see. Especially the last five holes, just being able to bring that momentum into tomorrow will be great.
“My short game in general was good, I had to do a bit of work today. I give a lot of credit to my scrambling, it’s quite an intimidating course to play in comparison to Al Maaden, so really trying to plot your way around is the main focus.
“All I was trying to do was fairway, green, two-putt, next hole. To make a few birdies was a bonus.”
Mehaffey needed a low fourth round to make the top 65 and ties who qualified for the final day but a one-over 73 at Royal Golf left her 108th on seven-over.
Meanwhile, Conor Purcell was 80th after opening with a two-over 74 with Gary Hurley 135th after carding a 78 in the DP World Tour’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at a windy Mont Choisy Le Golf.
Just five weeks after losing his card, England’s Eddie Pepperell birdied four of his last five holes to shoot 66 and lead by one from Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen.