Irish title holder Claire Coughlan crashed out at Royal Birkdale on the Lancashire coast yesterday. The 19-year-old from Cork survived her first matchplay round, beating Welsh international Natalee Evans on the home green.

But Coughlan then found English champion Fiona Brown too tough a nut to crack. Brown took command at an early stage, sweeping into a three-hole lead at the turn and going on to win quite comfortably by five and four.

"I was naturally delighted to get through this morning, but can have no grumbles about what happened this afternoon," Coughlan said. "Fiona really played well."

Milltown's Suzanne O'Brien, too, overcame her opening hurdle, defeating Sarah Sanderson by five and four. But she was then knocked out in a desperately tense struggle by Norwegian Suzann Pettersen.

That game went all the way to the 19th before O'Brien was edged to defeat. It had been see-saw all the way, but Pettersen made her par at the first extra hole while O'Brien failed.

Earlier, Co Louth's Dierdre Smith went down on the home green in the first round to Sweden's Anna Tybring. Defending champion Tim Andrew recovered from being four down with eight to play to defeat Lisa Walters and reach the third round with a last green victory.

Torrential rain and a heavy mist made conditions far from pleasant in Evian-les-Bains, France, yesterday, but Britain's Laura Davies enjoyed herself as her putter came good at the Evian Masters. With a level-par 72 for three-under 141, she lies two shots behind halfway leader Catrin Nilsmark of Sweden.

Davies recovered from a sluggish start with a storming finish: a 25-foot putt for a two at the short 17th and a 15-footer for a birdie at the long 18th.

Nilsmark also birdied the final two holes to snatch the lead with a 70. Another Swede, Charlotta Sorenstam, and England's Lora Fairclough, with a 67, joined Davies in joint second.