Aine Donegan shows her class in London
A drive down to London for the next event on the LET schedule immediately after the finish of the Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham. The big events just keep on coming at this busy time of year.
Aine Donegan from Lahinch, Co Clare, is a young Irish rookie on tour this year and we arranged to work together for this PIF Aramco event near St Albans and also the upcoming Irish Open in the K Club the last week of August.
Aine has lots of raw talent having had a stellar amateur career and very successful college experience out in America.
We got to work on a course with which I am very familiar but Aine had not seen before. I mapped out a game plan for the course and we took to our practice and preparations early on Tuesday morning.
Her coach from Galway, Gary Madden flew over for the day on Tuesday and we hit the ground running.
Thursday lunchtime was our time to shine and so we did with some lovely play making six birdies for a three-under-par round.
A quick turnaround for an early tee time Friday is lovely especially when bringing momentum from day one. We opened with very hot golf shooting five birdies in the first eight holes to hit the top of the leaderboard. A little sticky patch through the middle of the round but we kept it steady to shoot -4 for a total of -7 and get into the second last group on Saturday.
Day three in top notch company at the business end always feels different. Birdies mixed with bogeys had a feeling of being stuck in neutral but Aine displayed great patience to keep plugging away on the back nine.
That mentality was rewarded hugely with a blistering four-birdie finish from the 15th hole in to climb to -11 and in third position behind leader Anna Huang and world Number Six, Charley Hull.
A final group pairing late on Sunday with Hull and Huang would be exciting and exactly where you want to be. Aine was very confident and relaxed during our warm up and as we walked onto the first tee. Home support was huge for Charley who has won all over the world yet not at home in England.
Aine burst into action with a stunning approach to the first hole to open with an easy birdie and more great golf produced three more birdies as we boarded the eighth tee. Awesome golf and now starting to reel in the leaders. A bogey on the par-five ninth halted progress a little but solid pars on the back nine had us in thirrd position with four holes to play.
A birdie on 15 was very welcome but sadly some loose shots on those closing three holes cost us dearly with four dropped shots coming home.
Costly ranking points and cash lost, which was a shame having played so well all week.
A finish of tenth place is a great achievement against a strong field and will give Aine a boost in confidence and see her move nicely up the LET season rankings.
Anna Huang hung tough to win with a fantastic closing eagle on the 72nd hole to win by two to Charley Hull.
Aine heads to Switzerland this week while I take a week off at home. We pair back up for the Irish Open in three weeks time at the K Club which promises to be a very exciting week with great home support.
A very enjoyable week in London and working for a player from Ireland just feels that bit extra special. Watch this space with Aine. Bags of talent and while still learning as a young Professional the potential is vast. Get your tickets for the K Club and come watch some fantastic golf while supporting plenty of Irish girls on tour.
