British Amateur: Grant to face Mehaffey as Leona Maguire also makes last 16
Leona Maguire
Leading qualifier Paula Grant eased into the last 16 of the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship and now faces Olivia Mehaffey for a place in the quarter-finals at Pyle and Kenfig in Wales.
The Lisburn player beat Cecilie Finne-Ipsen of Denmark 4 and 2 in the morning before beating England's Rochelle Morris 4 and 3 in the afternoon.
World No 1 Leona Maguire will take on Sweden's Beatrice Wallin after she beat Spain's Elena Hualde Zuniga and Paula Neira Garcia by 5 and 4 and 7 and 6 respectively. But Castletroy's Chloe Ryan lost in round one to Sweden's Amanda Linner by one hole as Mairead Martin fell to Mehaffey in the afternoon..
“I played really nice golf this morning, made some good birdies and carried it on into this afternoon’s round," Leona said.
"I hit a lot of fairways and greens to give myself a lot of chances. Once you get into match play, you can be a bit more aggressive and go after a few more pins.
“I’ll take each match as it comes. There’s a really strong field out here. I had a good performance today, and we’ll take it from there once tomorrow’s round starts.”
Mehaffey, who plays collegiate golf in the United States for Arizona State University, defeated Scotland’s Chloe Goadby 4 and 3 before ousting Kanturk's Mairead Martin 5 and 4.
“I had two really good wins, and I played really solid out there today," Olivia said. "The conditions got really tough this afternoon, but I hit some really good shots to the fairways and greens.
"I grew up playing a lot of links golf, so it’s nice to get back to my roots and play links golf again.
“With match play anything can happen. It’s links golf and you don’t know what the weather can throw at you. It’s anyone’s game really."
Leading qualifier Grant was delighted with her progress.
“I was two down through six holes in the morning’s match but I made a good comeback against Cecilie," she said. "I played really solid golf in the afternoon and made a lot more birdies. Overall, a pretty good day.
“The conditions were tough and the wind was going in the opposite direction to yesterday. You have to keep plugging away, keep hitting the fairways and hopefully hole some putts.
“I think I can do well here but I’ll take it one step at a time, one match at a time and see how things go. It’s nice to finish early and rest before tomorrow."
