Donabate's legendary Mary McKenna has left herself with a lot of work to do if she is to clinch her second Senior Women's British Open strokeplay title at Copt Heath.

Yesterday the nine-times Curtis Cup star returned a first-round 83 to trail leader Sue Dye,the English senior stroke-play champion by seven strokes heading into round two.

McKenna looked likely to return a useful score until disaster struck late on - she had a triple bogey eight at the 15th and triple seven at the 17th but bravely finished with a birdie three. Former champion Valerie Hassett from Ennis struggled on the difficult layout and ended with a 17 over par 90 and is in danger of missing the cut after today's second round.