Matthew continues to lead on day two at Killeen Castle

Scotland’s Catriona Matthew fired a one-under-par 71 to sit at six under and maintain her overnight lead halfway through the second round of the Ladies Irish Open supported by Fáilte Ireland. Matthew had three birdies on the front nine at Killeen Castle as she played through a mixture of sunshine interspersed with heavy rain showers that led to a half hour weather delay this morning, meaning that afternoon tee times were delayed by 25 minutes. The Solheim Cup star came back in two over par after mixing a further two birdies with a pair of bogeys and a double at the 17th after she found the water off the tee, but she still ended the morning session two clear of fellow Scot Carly Booth, who had a three under 69. “I’m a little bit disappointed. I played well on the front nine and then just a bad drive on 17 cost me a double: one under, so not too bad,” explained the North Berwick 42-year-old, who played through erratic weather.   “I’ve never had the umbrella up and down so much. It was up and it was down and now the sun’s out, so who knows. To be honest it wasn’t too bad. At least the rain didn’t stay on. It just lasted a couple of minutes every time. Better that than constant rain,” she added. The eight-time tournament champion, with four wins on the LET, birdied the first after hitting her seven-iron to about four feet. On the third, she hit a little sand-iron in to three feet and holed that for birdie. At the seventh, she missed the green left but chipped up to about six feet and holed that for birdie. She pushed her drive at the 11th and managed to hit the front left of the green but three-putted for bogey, before recovering with a simple birdie on 12. At 13, her drive just caught the bunker and she chipped out successfully but  missed a six-footer for par. On 15, two really good shots to the green were followed by two-putts for birdie, but the good work was undone on 17 after hitting a bad tee shot into the water. Booth also played in the worst of the conditions, finishing just before the more settled sunshine prevailed for the afternoon competitors and she said: It was crazy. There would be a shower, then sunshine, shower, then sunshine, so it was tricky out there but I kind of held it together and performed pretty nicely.” She birdied the first, sixth and ninth going out and was five under for the day after two more birdies at 10 and 15, but found the water on the par-three 16th resulting in a double bogey there. “I played very steady, very good golf today; one double bogey on the 16th but other than that, five birdies and very happy with my game,” said Booth. “I missed a lot of chances. I was hitting it very close today but I holed a number of them as well. I would have been really happy with my round if I didn’t put it in the water on 16, so other than that, it would have been a really good day.” The 20-year-old from Comrie in Perthshire earned her breakthrough victory on the LET at the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open in early May and quickly followed up with a second win at the lucrative Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open in June, a week before her 20th birthday. She admitted that she would love to play with fellow Scot Matthew in the final round. “It would be good. I played with her at the Scottish and the first time I played with her was in my very first professional tournament when I was 14. I came 13th at the Scottish Open and I beat her by a shot so it was good memories.” Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg was the best of the afternoon competitors on three under par after five holes in the second round. She birdied the 10th, but bogeyed the 12th and 13th, after pushing her tee shot right and having to take a penalty drop under a tree. However it was a good bogey as she holed a 15 footer to stay only three shots off the lead.