Lauren Walsh holds the solo lead heading into the weekend at the Tenerife Women’s Open after the Irishwoman carded a second round 68 (-4) at Abama Golf to move two shots clear.
Related: Sofie Nielsen, Lauren Walsh show the way in Tenerife
Starting the day on five-under par, tied for the lead, Walsh got off to a nervy start when she bogeyed the par-4 1st. But the Irish star quickly bounced back with a birdie at the 2nd before carding three in a row at the 4th, 5th and 6th to surge into the outright lead.
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After three straight pars, Walsh soon got things going again after the turn birdying the 10th and 11th to attain a healthy five shot advantage.
This was followed by back-to-back bogeys at the 13th and 14th, but Walsh once again bounced back in style hitting a classy approach at the par-4 17th to card birdie number seven.
“It was a good day’s work,” the second year Ladies European Tour (LET) star said. “I hit the ball really nicely but didn’t hole quite as many putts as yesterday. It was nice to make a birdie on 17 to get one of those bogeys back.
“I gave myself some chances on the front nine and converted them. It’s a tricky golf course so it doesn’t take too much to get out of position and make a bogey. But overall I’m really happy with how I handled myself. Plenty of positives to take away. Golf is golf and everyone is going to make bogeys. I’m happy I put those behind me and pushed on.”
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In solo second sits Singapore’s Shannon Tan who carded the round of the week 66 (-6) to soar up the leaderboard. The Magical Kenya Ladies Open winner went bogey-free and now sits in an excellent position heading into the weekend.
Tan said: “Today was one of those days where I hit every fairway and every green. I don’t remember chipping at all today! Some putts also dropped and I got into the par-5s in two twice. Boring golf really!
“I’ll have the same mindset tomorrow. Fairways and greens. At the end of the day it’s just me versus the golf course so if I beat the golf course I’ll be happy enough.”
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Seven players share third position on five-under par, a group consisting of Czech Republic’s Sara Kouskova – winner of the last event, the Jabra Ladies Open – Spain’s Marta Martin, Austria’s Emma Spitz, India’s Diksha Dagar, overnight leader Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen from Denmark plus Italian pair Alessandra Fanali and Anna Zanusso.
Dagar had a rollercoaster day firing six birdies for a round of 69 (-3) – a card which included some excellent approaches and a brilliant bounce-back birdie on the 17th after finding bunker trouble on the 16th.
The two-time LET winner said: “I’m really looking forward to the weekend. I need to continue the same level of game. I’m playing well but need to keep steady. I’ll focus on myself and won’t look at the scores. Dad has been doing a good job on the bag reading the greens. We have been discussing it a lot. Because of him, I got some good birdies opportunities. This course is really difficult for the caddies.”
Martin meanwhile was spurred on by family and friends watching in Tenerife. The Madrid native said: “It’s great to have my family out here. I’ve been struggling a little bit the past few weeks, I’ve had a neck injury, so it’s really cool to have family and friends coming over to support me. I have to play well for them, I owe them some beers [with these hills] because they really deserve that!”
 at Abama Golf to move two shots clear of Shannon Tan; Diksha Dagar T3 at 5-under){kind=link}