Tramore golfer Anna Dawson made two eagles and put herself in pole position for a top 12 spot as she leads after day one of the AIG Irish Women’s & Girls’ Amateur Close Championship.
75 players made their way to Roscommon Golf Club for the opening stroke play round on Tuesday morning. And with just the top 12 eligible to qualify for the match play rounds a good early start was crucial.
Dawson, returning home to play following her trip to Finland competing at the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship, made the best possible start to her tournament, carding an almost flawless -8 round of 65, to see her five clear of Canice Screene (Croham Hurst) and playing partner Shannon Burke (Ballinrobe).
“It was a great day, really stress free. I had a great round with Emma (O’Driscoll) and Shannon, they would be two good friends of mine. We were just having good fun out there and the putts kept dropping so can’t complain,” said Dawson.
Birdies on two, three, eight and 16 adorned the Tramore golfer’s card but the highlights of the round came on seven and 14 with Dawson making eagles on both.
“The seventh, a Par 5, I was lucky enough to make it in two, I hit it into about eight or ten feet, and I held the putt for eagle and then on 14, the Par 4 down the hill, I held my second shot with a 58 degree, so can’t complain,” said Dawson.
With her first round in the books Dawson can tentatively begin to look ahead to Thursday’s match play draw and will be hoping for a similar performance tomorrow.
“I’m really looking forward to it coming off a tough rush going to Finland last week. It’s great to come back and get straight back into competition. Having a great round, put myself well up there for the match play,” said Dawson.
Burke too put in a solid performance on day one, an enjoyable bogey free -3 round of 70 for the Ballinrobe golfer sees her tied for second.
“Got off to a nice start, birdied two of the first three and that kind of settled me so yeah, really enjoyable round,” said Burke.
“I was going okay, and it felt like I wasn’t going great watching Anna, obviously shooting eight under but we had a really, really enjoyable group, really relaxed out there and we had loads of fun.”
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