Delaney's Q-School bid in tatters

Tara Delaney in action. Picture © LadiesEuropeanTour.com

Just a few days after Danielle McVeigh announced that she was looking for a new challenge after two tough years in the professional ranks, Carlow’s Tara Delaney faces another hard year in the lower echelons of the professional game.

The former Curtis Cup player won her full Ladies European Tour card for the 2009 season, finishing 84th in the Order of Merit before falling to 127th in 2010.

That meant demotion to the Ladies European Tour Access Series, where she was 18th in the money list in 2011, 61st in 2012 and 94th this year.

Another trip to the Qualifying School in Morocco has come around this week but after opening with a 78, Delaney crashed to a second round 86 on the Samanah Country Club course to find herself propping up the 95-strong field on 20 over par. Q-School scores

Only the top 60 will make the four round cut and the hard-working Carlow player is a distant 16 strokes outside that mark and destined to head home early.

What the future holds for her remains to be seen but at the top of the leaderboard Norwegian Caroline Martens and Tessa Teachman of the United States fired matching rounds of 71 on the Samanah and Al Maaden golf courses in Marrakech respectively to share the lead at six-under-par.

The pair ended the second round a stroke ahead of England’s Anna Scott and Italian Sophie Sandolo in the five-round examination, with first round leader Rebecca Sorensen of Sweden and Austrian amateur NinaMuehl a stroke behind on four-under-par.