Sara Byrne birdied her final hole to card a one under 70 and keep her hopes alive of winning an LPGA Tour card at the LPGA Q-Series in Alabama.

The Douglas star (23) endured another rollercoaster day at Magnolia Grove as she made six birdies and five bogeys on the Falls Course to share 30th on level par.

Only the top 25 and ties will be awarded LPGA cards after five rounds and Byrne, who has already secured a card for the LPGA’s second tier Epson Tour, is just one stroke outside the magic number.

It was a tougher day for Castlewarden’s Lauren Walsh, who like Byrne, has also secured an Epson Tour card.

The Kildare golfer played the Crossings Course in round two but after fighting back from a three over front nine to level par for the day with birdies at the first, second and fourth, she bogeyed the eighth and double-bogeyed the ninth to shoot a three-over 75.

At six-over par, Walsh is tied for 79th and her first task over the weekend is to make the top 65 and ties after 72 holes who qualify for Monday’s final round.

At the top of the leaderboard China’s Yu Liu remained in front as she followed her first-round, nine-under 62 with a five-under 67 on the Crossings Course to head the field by seven strokes on 14 under.

“I think overall [my golf] is just pretty solid, Yu said. “I feel like my game is in a pretty good spot coming in. If anything, I feel like I haven't been driving the ball very well.

"The cold temperature like this, it's really tough to hit it exactly the way I want.”

Mexico’s Maria Fassi, France’s Pauline Rouissin-Bouchard, Belgium’s Manon De Roey and Japan’s Chisato Iwai share second place on seven-under.

Kjeldsen wins PGA TOUR Champions Q-School

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen won the PGA TOUR Champions Qualifying Tournament in Phoenix.

He carded a five-under 66 at TPC Scottsdale to win by eight shots on 24-under par from Sweden’s Freddie Jacobson in the race for five cards.

The other three cards when to American Mark Walker, Chile’s Felipe Aguilar and Australia’s Brendan Jones, who tied for third on 14-under.

“This is a week I’ll never forget,” said Kjeldsen,  a former winner of the Irish Open, who had his som Emil on his bag. “It’s probably some of the best golf I’ve ever played. It’s been such a special moment for the two of us.”

Ballymena amateur Chris Devlin tied for 40th on one-under after a closing 73 as Dicky Pride, Scott Barr and Andre Stolz tied for sixth at 13-under, one stroke outside a potential playoff.

Players who finished sixth to 30th at Q-School are eligible to play in open qualifiers in 2025.

Conroy 73rd in KORN FERRY Tour Q-School qualifier

Meanwhile, Enniscorthy’s Paul Conroy closed with a level par 72 to finish tied for 73d at the Second Stage of the KORN FERRY Tour Q-School in Alabama.

The Wexford man, who has status on the PGA TOUR Americas for 2025, finalising 21 shots outside the qualifying places at Robert Trent Jones Trail at Highland Oaks.

Scores