Sara Byrne is safely through to the LPGA Q-Series Qualifying Stage after finishing inside the top 95 of the Pre-Qualifier at California’s Rancho Mirage.
The last Irish woman standing after both Aine Donegan and Anna Foster missed the cut, Byrne was comfortably placed in a tie for 15th after 54 holes, breaking par in each of the three rounds.
With an enviable cushion, she was able to ease her way round on the final day, safe in the knowledge that avoiding a major blowup would suffice and despite a double bogey on the par-3 14th, two bogeys and two birdies saw her safely round in 74 blows and she’d end up tied for 35th.
With step one of what is hopefully a three-step process, she now advances to the Qualifying Stage which will be held from October 15-18 at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice Florida, and the former Miami Hurricane will be hoping that familiarity with the conditions and climate can play to her advantage.
There is little time to rest, however, and she heads back across the Atlantic to Sunningdale to join her Great Britain and Ireland teammates who are set to take on the United States in the Curtis Cup this coming week.
FULL LPGA PRE-QUALIFYING RESULTS