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| Jade Schaeffer from France |
She was 28 yards from the flag when she chipped in with her wedge and she said: “It was great. I knew I had a good chance but it was my first chip in for eagle ever!”
Schaeffer finished sixth at LET Qualifying School and her best finish in seven starts as a professional was joint 28th in the recent KLM Ladies Open in the Netherlands.
She said: “I feel like I have been waiting for a long time for this kind of result. I’ve played well but not scored well. I’m hoping for a good second round and I would be happy with a top five or a top ten. I have had a good start and if I can win that would be great but it depends on how I play tomorrow.”
Byrnes recorded her career best finish of joint third on the same course in 2005 and she said: “It brought back good memories coming back here. The greens are so good so it makes it nice to play. The course is in great condition and it’s nice to be playing in great weather.
“It’s the first time I’ve broken 30 putts in a long time – I only had 29 – and I hit 15 greens so I’ve hit the ball quite well. I also holed birdie putts – I had seven birdies today. I’ve had a lot of opportunities lately and I haven’t been making them so it was good today that they rolled in for me.
“You need to hit lots of fairways here because the rough is reasonably thick. I missed a couple of fairways which cost me bogeys because the ball was sitting down.”
Byrnes is aiming to play her way into the Ricoh Women’s British Open this week. She currently occupies 54th place on the New Star Money List but to qualify automatically players must be inside the top 25 on the New Star Money List on the cut off date of 3rd July, this Tuesday.
