ENNIS’ ÁINE Donegan made her mark in the US Women’s Open and certainly collected an array of new supporters while taking to the fairways of Pebble Beach.
Áine covered the back nine of her final round in four-over, agonisingly missing out on the silver medal for the leading amateur by a single stroke.
A member of both Woodstock Golf Club which is located directly across from her home and Lahinch Golf Club, she got off to a dream start when she covered her opening round in three under par and she was just a shot behind the early leader.
Having made the cut after the opening two rounds, she made an excellent start to round three with three birdies in the opening six holes to climb to two-under for the championship and into the top five.
Unfortunately, the very difficult eighth hole showed its teeth and with a very strong left-to-right wind blowing, Áine was forced to reload twice with her approach shot which resulted in a five over bogey 9.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better week. My goal was to make the cut. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned that these tournaments are tiring, definitely,” she said following the tournament.
She put an end to speculation that she would be turning professional when she said she was going to remain at Louisiana State University. “I have a final qualifier for the Open,” she said when asked what was next, “and then I have the Irish Open at Dromoland Castle hopefully. I got invited last year so hopefully that will happen again this year and it’s only 10 minutes from my house”.
