DEFENDING CHAMPION LEONA MAGUIRE NOW T6 IN PORTUGAL

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE
 IRISH LADIES GOLF UNION
A bright and breezy day greeted the players on the second day of the Portuguese Ladies Amateur at Montado Golf Resort, Lisbon today.
Title-holder Leona Maguire, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, continued her impressive form of yesterday reaching the turn in level par, but as the wind strengthened on the tougher inward nine, she had to settle for a closing two over par 74. Twin Lisa double-bogeyed her first and last holes to record a frustrating 76, having played well once again today. Cork's Gillian O'Leary was more comfortable today off the tee but found the greens testing in her 76 while Paula Grant was pleased with her level par opening nine, only to drop 10 shots coming home after the misfortune of a lost ball and tree trouble.
The later starters also struggled in the blustery and cold conditions with the average score increasing by four strokes on yesterday's round. In the afternoon, Aedin Murphy and Lucy Simpson impressed with solid 77s while Sarah Cunningham was just one further back on 78, matched by Muskerry's Jean O'Driscoll earlier in the day.
Louise Mernagh, Victoria Bradshaw and Jessica Carty found the putting difficult in the gusty conditions and signed for 83, 85 and 86 respectively.
Germany's Rebecca Roeller leads the field by four strokes overnight after adding a 74 to her opening 66. Finland's Anne Hakula also added 76 to lie second while Matilda Castren (Finland), Clara Baena Sanchez (Spain) and Karlijn Zaanen (Netherlands) lie joint third, one stroke further back.
Tomorrow sees the field compete a third round of 18 holes with the top 40 players teeing up on Sunday for the final 18 holes.
Leona, Lisa and Gillian still lie within striking distance and two low rounds, well within their talented capabilities, over the weekend will see the trophy return to Ireland for a second successive year.
In contrast, Scotland's three representatives, Alyson McKechin (Elderslie), Ailsa Summers (Carnoustie Ladies) and Germany-based Rachel Taylor are almost certain to miss the third-round cut to the leading 40.

SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 144 (2x72)
140 Rebecca Roeller (Germany) 66 74
144 Anne Hakula (Finland) 68 76
145 Matilda Castren (Finland ) 69 76, Clara Baena Sanchez (Spain) 69 76, Karlijn Zaanen (Netherlands) 71 74

Irish scores:
146 Leona Maguire 72 74 (T6)
149 Lisa Maguire 73 76 (T13)
150 Gillian O'Leary 74 76 (T15)
154 Jean O'Driscoll 76 78, Aedin Murphy 77 77 (T21)
155 Paula Grant 73 82 155 Lucy Simpson 78 77 (T25)
161 Sarah Cunningham 83 78
163 Louise Mernagh 80 83
164 Victoria Bradshaw 79 85 
172 Jessica Carty 86 86

English scores
155 Rachel Drummond 73 82, Jessica Wilcox 73 82 (T25)

Scottish scores
160 Alyson McKechin 79 81 (T69)
167 Ailsa Summers 82 85 (T90)
170 Rachel Taylor 81 89 (T96).