Olivia Mehaffey bounces back to make South African cut

A superb second round 68 saw Olivia Mehaffey make the cut at the South Africa Women's Open, though Lauren Walsh will play no part in the weekend’s action.

The Irish pair had it all to do after struggling on day one in Cape Town. Walsh carded a 78 six-over par round, one better than Mehaffey to sit well down the standings.

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Mehaffey, however, enjoyed a blistering back nine at the Erinvale Country and Golf Estate to make the cut.

The Banbridge woman picked up a shot at the third, before bogeys at the sixth and ninth left her staring down the barrel.

The 23-year-old began her surge with an eagle at the 10th, and some strong iron play afforded her birdie opportunities.

With the putter in good form she picked up three more shots to move to three-over, finishing two shots inside the cut line in a tie for 49th.

She will not be joined by compatriot Walsh, who could only manage a 78.

Having opened with a bogey, a birdie at the third renewed hopes of a push up the leaderboard, but her fate was effectively sealed at the fifth with a double bogey.

That was followed by successive bogeys as the Kildare golfer finished on 10-over par.

Belgium's Manon De Roey leads the way heading into the weekend after carding a five-under 67 in heavy winds to move to eight-under par.

On a testing day the Olympian had a birdie fest posting eight red numbers to overtake clubhouse leader Rosie Davies and take a one-shot advantage into Saturday at Erinvale.

"It was really tough conditions," said De Roey. "I had something very similar at the start of the year in Saudi where we had very windy conditions, so maybe that helped me for this week. In these conditions, I just tried to stay patient and pick good starting lines from the tee with the wind and