IF THERE was a sense of deja vu about Eileen Rose Power's position at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of strokeplay qualifying in the Irish Women's Close championship, sponsored by Lancome, at Enniscrone yesterday, some of her international colleagues were in rather unfamiliar precarious positions.
With the top 32 players progressing to the matchplay stages, a number of prominent players - among them Ulster champion Laura Webb, last year's beaten finalist Lilian Behan, Alison Coffey and Paula Gorman - found themselves in dangerous territory with no room for error.
Indeed, the priority from the 36-hole strokeplay stage is simply to qualify; anything else, like being the leading qualifier, is a bonus. Still, Power, a three-time winner of the Close title (1990, '92 and '95), confirmed her current form and assumed pole position in the quest to claim the Leitrim Cup which will be decided after today's second round.
Power, who recently annexed the Munster crown, shot the only sub-par round of the day, a one under par 72 putting her one shot ahead of Curragh's Sinead Keane. Leinster champion Hazel Kavanagh and former international Kate MacCann produced rounds of 74, while last year's leading qualifier Ada O'Sullivan (75) and the defending champion Barbara Hackett (76) were comfortably placed in their qualifying efforts.
But the Enniscrone links, playing every one of its 5,925 yards, left its mark on other players with scores soaring into the 90s, despite relatively good conditions with just a hint of wind only the early starters were affected by rain. Power, however, collected seven birdies, three bogeys and a triple bogey in her round.
That triple bogey arrived at the 359-yard par four 12th hole where Power played from one bunker to another and added insult to injury by three-putting. However, it was a mere hiccup in a round which included a spate of birdies including four in succession from the eighth.
Her closest pursuer in the battle for leading qualifier proved to be Keane, last month's beaten Leinster finalist who has been added to the Irish panel this season. Last year, in anticipation of competing in the Close, Keane played in - and won - the Connacht championship and such foresight reaped dividends as she birdied two of the last three holes on her way to a level par 73.
Some of the pre-championship contenders, however, can't afford to slip up any farther, among them Behan whose big-hitting game would have seemed ideally suited to the course. However, she required a finishing run of three birdies in the last three holes to sign for a round of 80 having incurred a double bogey at the 14th where she lost a ball off the tee.
