We have a solo leader at the Hulencourt Women’s Open after Spanish rookie Carolina Chacarra fired a 65 (-7) on Friday to soar to the top of the standings on nine-under par.
Teeing up in only her second Ladies European Tour (LET) event of the season, Chacarra went bogey-free firing birdies at the 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 1st, 4th and 5th at Hulencourt Golf Club in Belgium. She leads Australia’s Kelsey Bennett by two shots following 36 holes of action.
“Yeah I mean, it was great today,” Chacarra said, who bettered Amelia Garvey and Celina Sattelkau’s 66 (-6) from last year. “My caddie [Ivan] and I just stuck to our plan hitting fairways and greens. The rough here, it can be tough when you miss fairways so it helped I was good off the tee. I made a couple of great putts too. I had to make some clutch pars coming in so the putter was definitely working. Overall, a great day.”
The 23-year-old, who earned her LET card in December at Lalla Aicha Q-School, has been competing on the LPGA this season where she has made two cuts and registered one top-25 finish. Chacarra’s older brother, Eugenio, competes on the DP World Tour and won back-to-back titles last month at the Dutch Ladies Open and Italian Open.
“He’s definitely my best friend and my role model so it helps when he’s playing good, it gives me momentum,” Carolina said. “He’s doing great at the moment and it’s super fun to watch him do well. It’s funny, we had close tee times today and always try to keep up with each other’s scores on live scoring which can be a little stressful at times. It’s just great to have a brother that also plays golf and understands what I go through.”
While the Spaniard has also been boosted by having a new caddie, Ivan, since last week who continued to be vocal out in Belgium Friday. The Argentine looper has 26 years of experience caddying across all the tours.
Chacarra said: “My caddie is from Argentina so he has a lot of energy! It’s awesome and super fun. We only started together last week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.”
Coming in shortly after with a brilliant scorecard of her own was Bennett, the highest ranked player on the 2026 LET Order of Merit competing this week. The Australian sits third in the season-standings with one win to her name and fired a 67 (-5) on Friday to move into solo second. Bennett lead the Hulencourt Women’s Open last year after the first day before eventually finishing T10 in Belgium.
“It was really solid,” the Australian Women’s Classic winner said, who birdied three of her final four holes yesterday. “I rolled in some nice putts and am really looking forward to this weekend. There’s still lots of golf to play out there. It was really tough out there yesterday. I was level-par through nine then managed to squeeze a few in at the end. I definitely have a lot more confidence now I’ve won on tour.”
In a tie for third on four-under par sit all four of yesterday’s leaders: Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux, South Africa’s Nadia van der Westhuizen, England’s Bronte Law and India’s Diksha Dagar, as well as Ireland’s Anna Foster. The overnight leaders all carded even-par rounds of 72 at Hulencourt Golf Club to remain well in contention. Foster meanwhile, now in her second year on the LET, fired a round of 69 (-3) to surge up the leaderboard.
Chasing a third win on the LET, Metraux was disappointed with her Friday morning in Belgium. “I didn’t hit the ball very well today,” she said. “I didn’t make anything on the greens. It’s probably the worst I could have shot today if I’m being honest. I drove the ball well which is what’s needed on this golf course. Hopefully the rest will click tomorrow.”
One back from the group in a tie for eighth on three-under par are India’s Aditi Ashok, making her LET return this week, and 2023 Order of Merit winner Trichat Cheenglab from Thailand. Rounding out the top-10 in a tie for tenth are New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori and Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley on two-under par.
After 36 holes of action in Belgium, the cut fell at five-over par with 70 players making it through to the weekend. This includes home star Sophie Bert, the only Belgian professional in the field, as well World No 9 amateur Soomin Oh from South Korea who sits T12.
The third round of the Hulencourt Women’s Open gets underway on Saturday morning. The leaders will go out at 14:00 localm time. Watch live and follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook. #HulencourtWomensOpen
