Another top five finish for globe trotting Mehaffey

Following on from a fifth place in the South American Amateur Championship, the +4 handicapper finished fourth in the Portuguese International ladies Amateur Championship last weekend.

She did it in style too, firing in a joint best-of-the-day round of four under par 68 in the final round. That gave her a final score of one under par and ensured Olivia was the highest finishing Irish player by quite a distance, 12 shots ahead of Maria Dunne, the only other Irish girl to make the cut.

Olivia finished 16 behind runaway winner and world number three Maria Parra, who blew away the competition with a blistering performance.

“I was happy with my finish after such a busy schedule,” said Olivia, who hasn’t been home since before her trip to Peru. “Flying straight in from Peru, I was a bit jet-lagged and tired so to finish so high up the leaderboard was a good result.”

Olivia is now back to her studies for a brief period before she resumes the life of a top level sportswoman, back to Spain for another Irish training camp in Spain.

That will be good preparation for her next competitive outing, at the Women’s Spanish International Amateur Championships beginning on 25th February at Real Club Pineda de Sevilla.

It’s a big year ahead for Olivia, who will tee it up at one of, if not the biggest tournament in women’s golf at the RICOH British Women’s Open later this season.