Casandra Alexander shoots second-round 66 to build five-shot lead at Women's Irish Open

Alexander builds five-stroke advantage

South Africa's Casandra Alexander reached 15 under par at the midway point of the KPMG Women's Irish Open, posting a 6-under-par 66 at the K Club's Palmer South course on Friday. Following an opening 63, the 27-year-old holds a 36-hole total of 129 and a five-stroke cushion over her nearest competitors. Alexander arrived in County Kildare as the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit leader and the highest-ranked golfer in the field at world number 38.

Sara Kouskova of the Czech Republic and Brianna Navarrosa of the United States share second place at 10 under par. Sweden's Corinne Viden and Louise Rydqvist sit one stroke further back at 9 under par, with Viden receiving a one-shot penalty during her round for stepping on her ball. Sweden's Lisa Pettersson occupies sixth place at 8 under par, followed by Germany's Alexandra Foersterling at 7 under par.

Early eagles set the pace

Alexander began her second round on the 10th tee and recorded an eagle on the par-5 opening hole before adding consecutive birdies on the 11th and 12th. A dropped shot on the 13th was answered with a birdie on the 17th, and she posted her second eagle of the round at the par-5 third hole. After a bogey on the sixth hole and a birdie on the seventh, she completed a 66 to extend her tournament lead.

Alexander explained after her round that her initial target for Friday was far more modest.

Well, my caddie said to me yesterday, if we could just get a red number going for day two, like if we could get two or three-under, that would be pretty good. Because your expectations go up once you've shot nine-under. Then I started eagle-birdie-birdie and I just looked at him and laughed. And he's like, "shut up, let's go to the next tee, let's carry on!"

Screene leads the Irish challenge

Canice Screene emerged as the top Irish competitor after 36 holes, carding a 5-under 67 to move into a four-way tie for eighth place at 5 under par. Screene, who plays primarily on the LET Access Series, recovered from two bogeys over her first four holes to record seven birdies across her final 12 holes. Her 36-hole total of 139 leaves her 10 strokes behind Alexander heading into Saturday.

Screene reflected on how her performance at the previous edition supported her round on Friday.

To know I've done it once, to play well at the weekend, I feel like it's given me confidence I can do it again. And also just leaning on how I played today and the confidence I had in my irons particularly makes me feel good going into the next few days.

Maguire advances alongside six qualifiers

Six Irish players made the halfway cut, which fell at 1 over par on Friday. Leona Maguire signed for a second straight 71 to finish at 2 under par in tied-26th alongside Áine Donegan, who shot a 73. Maguire reached 4 under par through 12 holes before dropping shots on the 16th and 18th holes. Anna Foster carded a 71 to join Annabel Wilson at 1 under par in tied-41st, while Lauren Walsh posted a 70 to qualify at level par.

Sara Byrne missed the cut by one stroke at 2 over par following a 73. Kate Dillon, Anna Abom, Olivia Costello, Olivia Mehaffey, and Anna Dawson also missed out alongside Katie Poots, Beth Coulter, Emma Fleming, and Emma Cantwell. Maguire noted that missed putts kept her from capitalising on benign scoring conditions.

I wasn't hitting bad putts, so it was a lot of burning edges and stuff like that. I mean, it's not far away. I feel like it's very close to being very good. Obviously today was prime conditions for shooting that sort of number and I didn't take advantage of it. But we'll see what we get over the weekend and just keep trying to give myself as many chances as I can.