Áine Donegan produced a stunning final 16 holes to secure leading qualifier status from the LET’s Lalla Aicha Q-School Pre-Qualifier at Fairmont Royal Palm Golf Club in Marrakesh, while over at Palm Golf Ourika, Olivia Mehaffey and Canice Screene also punched their tickets to next week’s Final Stage.
Rounds of 70 and 66 gave Donegan, who only turned pro a few months back, a commanding five-stroke advantage going into the final round, but a shaky start saw her record back-to-back bogeys to start the final round.
She settled the nerves with a bounce-back birdie on the third, then added another on the seventh to get back to level-par at the turn, and from there, she put the pedal down and raced to the finishing line.
Birdies on 10, 11, 14, 16 and 17 saw her stretch her advantage, and she finished the week on 13-under-par, eight shots clear of her nearest challenger.
“Everything was pretty solid this week, both golf wise and mentally,” Donegan said. “I never really got ahead of myself today knowing I had the lead. I just stayed patient and kept thinking about the next shot. I was really happy with how I kept myself together.”
She immediately turns her attention to Final Stage, intent on following in the footsteps of Sara Byrne, Anna Foster and Annabel Wilson who secured full cards at Q-School last year, and perhaps Lauren Walsh who impressed in her debut season and then captured an LPGA Tour card at Q-Series earlier this week.
“I’ve got to completely forget about this week now,” she added. “Next week is a totally new tournament across two different courses. I’ll take it shot by shot and one day at a time. It’s a marathon not a sprint and I’ll just try to enjoy it. So far I’ve had a great time. I’ll have some rest tomorrow then get back to it next week.”
Mehaffey, who was forced to play on the LET Access Series for most of 2025 after losing full playing privileges, entered the final round at Ourika just one shot off the lead, but with the leading 20 players and ties advancing, keeping big numbers off the card was the main priority in the final round.
Three bogeys in her first nine holes wasn’t the start she was looking for, but she regrouped to shoot one-under on the back nine, firing two birdies before bogeying the 18th, but she finished in solo third place overall and will fancy her chances at next week’s five-round finale.
Screene, who successfully navigated the preliminary qualifier last year and went on to claim Category 16 status by finishing tied for 36th, closed out with back-to-back level-par 72s to finish in solo fifth place at -2.
In total, 90 players advanced from the four qualifiers, and the Final-Qualifier takes place between 16-20 December at Royal Golf Marrakech & Al Maaden Golf Marrakech. Players will alternate between each course over the first four rounds with the fifth and final round being staged at Al Maaden Golf Marrakech.
Fairmont Royal Palm Leaderboard
Palm Golf Ourika Leaderboard
