Northern Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey recorded her best finish to date on the Ladies European Tour (LET) at the Ladies Open by Pickala Rock Resort as she bounced back from a tough opening day to finish T3 in Finland.
The 25-year-old struggled out the blocks on Thursday as she fell to four-over-par through her first 12 holes during a storm suspended first round.
Returning to the course early on Friday to finish her opening round, Mehaffey soon turned things around as she lit up the putter to play 24 holes in nine-under par on a much sunnier second day.
“I just got off to a bad start,” Mehaffey said. “I looked and I think I was nearly in last place – two shots off last before I went out [on Friday]. I just had the mentality to make some birdies and that worked well.”
Having matched the best round of the day with a 66 (-6) on Friday, Mehaffey continued where she left off on Saturday, despite another storm delay, to post a 68 (-4) and finish the tournament in a tie for third on nine-under-par – six behind Spain’s Carmen Alonso who clinched her maiden LET title.
“I’ve been struggling the last two weeks in the final round, so I feel like I’ve just tried to be very patient. I haven’t got anything going.
“I talked to my sports psychologist [David Jenkins], and we’re like, ‘ok, we’re going to be aggressive from the start and we’re going to try and make birdies again today’. So that managed to work.”
The result marks the best result of Mehaffey’s LET career to date – who joined the Tour as a rookie in 2022 – and continues her recent revival following some difficult personally battles over the past year.
“I actually feel really good,” she continued. “I felt like it was coming even though I had still missed some cuts before Germany. I think my sports psychologist has really turned everything around for me. I started working with him just before the Jabra Ladies Open and it still wasn’t pretty there.
“We’ve done so much hard work and I’m just really proud of myself because honestly, I remember talking to my coach on the range and he’s like, ‘If you don’t sort it out mentally, I don’t know how much longer you’re going to keep playing for because you can’t keep putting yourself through this.’
“I’m just really proud of the work we’ve done and that my team have stuck by me. So it’s been very nice, for sure.”
As for the career best finish, Mehaffey now qualifies for the Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF – London event, and moves up to 41st in the Race to Costa Del Sol.
She said: “It gets me into London so that’s great! I wasn’t in London, so I’m really looking forward to that. It’s my best finish on Tour, so it’s really, really nice to have and I think it just gives me a little bit more confidence that we’re on the right track.”
