Arie Donagan‘s first start as a Ladies European Tour (LET) member could not have gone better as the Irish rookie followed up an opening round 68 (-3) with a sensational 63 (-8) to soar into the lead at the Ford Women’s NSW Open.
Related: Flooded course plays dampener to opener at NSW Open
After the first round was suspended at lunchtime on Thursday due to a flooded course, Donegan along with half the field returned to Wollongong Golf Club on Friday at 08:00 with a mammoth 36 holes ahead of them.
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As conditions cleared up but with the course remaining soft, the Irishwoman made a solid start going bogey-free over her first 18 holes to sit three shots adrift of Aussie pair Kelsey Bennett and Hannah Reeves.
Returning after lunch for another 18 holes of action, Donegan, a Q-School graduate competing in her first LET event of the season, produced a masterclass kickstarted by an eagle hole-out at the par-5 9th.
This was followed by birdies at the 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th to send Donegan into the outright lead, before three more at the 1st, 2nd, and 4th moved the 23-year-old to nine-under par for her round through an astonishing 14 holes.
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Unfortunately, Donegan would find the fairway bunker at the par-4 7th leading to her first dropped shot of the day, before her birdie attempt came up shy on the par-3 8th to leave her falling one short of Mimi Rhodes’ course record 62 (-9) from 2025.
“It was obviously a dream day,” Donegan said. “I’m a little bit disappointed to finish my second last hole with a bogey, but I’m looking forward to the weekend and yeah, delighted with the start.
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“Obviously the weather felt a bit more like home, which I knew would come to my advantage a little bit. I knew some people would struggle in the wind and the rain. So I knew that if I just kind of kept the ball in front of me, especially off the tee on this course, you can kind of attack pins and stuff like that.”
Donegan was a winning member of the 2024 Curtis Cup alongside Rhodes who has since gone on to win three times on the LET. The Irishwoman admits her teammate’s 62 (-9) from this tournament last year was on her mind “a little bit” as she shot up the leaderboard.
She continued: “My boyfriend said to me if I get to 10-under, he’d get me a new phone! So it was more that on my mind. But no, I was just taking a shot by shot.”
Australia’s Sarah Kemp also had a day to remember posting a second round 64 (-7) to move to nine-under par, two shots back from leader Donegan.
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The 40-year-old, who also had to play 36 holes on Friday, is just 10 weeks removed from follow-up surgery on her knee following a horror accident two years ago.
“[The round was] very unexpected, [but] I’ll absolutely take it,” the 12-time WPGA Tour of Australasia winner said. “That was just some nice and solid golf. Really got it going that second 18, I don’t know how, but just all came together. It was great.
“I finished [my first round] and I saw my parents and said, I don’t even know if I could play the second 18. I went in and I had some physio, had heaps of salt, electrolytes, had three bananas and thank goodness I didn’t have cramps on the second nine.”
Joint-first round leader Reeves, a regional qualifier, sits in third place on seven-under par alongside Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea who fired a second round 66 (-5).
Bennett meanwhile carded a level-par round to drop down to a share of fifth on six-under par alongside Morgane Metraux of Switzerland and Amelia Garvey of New Zealand.
With half the field still to complete 36 holes, the second round of the Ford Women’s NSW Open will resume on Saturday morning at 7:30 local time.
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