Tour round-up: Sugrue and LET women shine as Leona looks for momentum
James Sugrue
DP World Tour
Conor Purcell tees it up in the Soudal Open at Rinkven International in Antwerp, Belgium, looking to get back on track towards retaining the card he won via the HotelPlanner Tour rankings last year.
Purcell is 136th in the Race to Dubai, 26.25 points outside the top 128 who will retain their cards.
Purcell (28) has made four of 11 cuts this season - Bahrain, Qatar and two in a row in China in April — and while his stats are inside the top 100 for driving accuracy and approach play, he’s 110th for strokes gained, 75th SG off the tee, 55th for SG approach but 130th for SG putting.
HotelPlanner Tour
This week — Danish Golf Challenge, Bogense Golf Club, Bogense, Denmark
Ireland has a seven-man contingent in Denmark this week.
Liam Nolan (15th in the Race to Mallorca), Mark Power (57th R2M), Max Kennedy (93rd R2M), Alex Maguire (140th R2M) and Dermot McElroy (161st R2M) are joined by Dungannon’s Jack Madden and Meath’s Daniel Mulligan.
Nolan, Power, Madden, Maguire and Mulligan are playing thanks to invitations.
The event is the second of 18 sucessive events in continental Europe after eight events in South Africa, the Middle East and India.
The goal is to win three.times to secure automatic promotion to the DP World Tour, or finish in the top 20 in the Road to Mallorca standings who earn cards.
LPGA
This week — MEXICO Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba
Leona Maguire again flies the flag on the LPGA Tour, looking for some momentum.
She’s 47th in the Race to CME Globe standings with one top 10 from 10 starts.
Maguire (29) is 58th for Strokes Gained Total (0.27), 84th SG Tee to Green (0.25), 129th SG Off the Tee (-0.61), 75th SG Approach(-0.02), 12th SG Around the Green (0.38) and 60th SG Putting (0.17)
Maguire is 146th for Driving Distance (241.59 yards) and 101st for GIR (67.81 %)
Her round one scoring average of 72.44 is 110th.
Ladies European Tour
The tour moves to Evian Resort this week for the Jabra Ladies Open with Lauren Walsh, Anna Foster, Annabel Wilson and Canice Screene all in action.
Last week — Dutch Ladies Open, Goyer Golf & Country Club
English rookie Mimi Rhodes won her third title of the season by two strokes on nine-under.
Lauren Walsh (24) was eighth on five-under, excelling in SG driving and approach but losing shots on and around the greens on day three. It was her third top 10 this season.
Elm Park’s Anna Foster (23) was a season’s best T12 on three-under after closing with a bogey-free 69. She’s made five of seven cuts so far.
Foster lost strokes in driving and approach play but gained 2.23 shots on the greens on the final day
Canice Screene, who won only conditional status at Q-School last year, was T32 on level par in her first start of the season.
Castlerock’s Annabel Wilson (24), another rookie, was T38 on one-over.
Douglas’ Sara Byrne, who has played several events on the LPGA’s Epson Tour, missed the four-over cut by one stroke after rounds of 77 and 72.
1 Mimi Rhodes 1,546.88 (7 events)
8 Lauren Walsh 517.93 (8 events )
46 Anna Foster 150.62 (6 events)
52 Annabel Wilson 133.90 (7 events)
64 Sara Byrne 92.00 (3 events)
113 Canice Screene 20.50 (1 event)
139 Olivia Mehaffey 4.40 (2 events)
Clutch Pro Tour
James Sugrue was the best of the Irish after the opening rounds of the Motocaddy Masters at St Mellion,
The Mallow star (28) made five birdies in a two-under 70 to tie for 13th, seven strokes behind the leader, David Hague, who shot 63.
Tyler Hogary from the host country shot level par but all the other Irish in the field shot over par.
Last week
Mallow’s James Sugrue enjoyed a T4 finish in the Tangier Championship at Heythrop Park last week, carding rounds of 65, 69 and 69 to finish on 10-under par, just a shot outside a playoff for the title.
The former Amateur champion earned £2,200 and moved up seven places to 10th in the Order of Merit race for three Challenge Tour cards.
Irish results, Tangier Championship
T4 James Sugrue -10
T16 Daniel Mulligan -6
T27 Paul McBride -3
T32 John-Ross Galbraith -2
T48 Robert Brazill +3
MC Marc Boucher E
MC Tom Dowdall E
MC Conor Murtagh +3
MC Scott Montgomery +10
MC Andrew Browne +27
10. James Sugrue (6)
19. Robert Brazill (5)
22.Daniel Mulligan (3)
23. John-Ross Galbraith (6)
37. Paul McBride (6)
42. Mark Power (3)
58. Jack Madden (8)
Alps Tour
There was no event on the Alps Tour last week but there five Irish entrants in the 2025 Lacanau Alps Open at UGolf Lacanau in Nouvelle Aquitaine in France this week.
Ronan Mullarney, Robert Moran, Hugh Foley, John Murphy and Michael Young tee it up.
There are five HotelPlanner Tour cards up for grabs for the leading points winners at the end of the season.
Irish Order of Merit positions after Gosser Open
8. Ronan Mullarney (7 events) €8,264.93
14. Robert Moran (7) €6,286.13
19. Hugh Foley (7) €4,785.13
68l John Murohy (6) €1,223.93
78, Michael Young (4) €958.50
