A front nine with six birdies on Friday set Casandra Alexander up for a second round of six-under-par 65 in the Ladies European Tour’s Lacoste Ladies Open de France at Golf Barriere in Deauville, France.
She made a bogey on the sixth, and made two pars as she turned in five-under 30. And, although she was unable to repeat those heroics on the back nine, she didn’t drop another shot and she made a birdie on the 16th to move to nine-under-par for the tournament ahead of the final round, and a share of second.
In front, Canada’s Anna Huang fired a round of seven-under 64 to climb to the top of the leaderboard. Alexander shared second with Germany’s Helen Briem and Italy’s Alessia Nobilio.
Alexander, who won the 2025 Tipsport Czech Ladies Open, had four birdies in a row from holes two to six.
“Day one was a bit slow, I made a couple of mistakes,” said Alexander. “Early on I played well and then I finished not so great. Today was better, I tried keeping it a little tidier. A bit of a slow back nine, but you can’t complain when you’re six-under.
“My putting was a little better today, I made a couple of hallelujah putts which helped, and I think the tee shots were a little better. I’m struggling a little with my driver, I’m hitting it a bit like a grandma but it’s going straight, so it will work for now. It was just a couple more putts today that sealed the deal.”
The 16-year-old Huang, who began the day in a share of eighth, started with back-to-back birdies on the first and second before adding another birdie on the sixth.
Huang made her only bogey of the day on the seventh before rolling in birdies on nine, 12, 13, 15 and 17 to seal a round of seven-under. The teenager secured a wire-to-wire victory at last week’s La Sella Open.
“Today was a really solid day, I was hitting it really well and I made a lot of putts on the back nine, so that helped,” said the LET rookie. “My driver wasn’t as great today, I found myself in the trees a couple of times, but I was able to bounce back.”
South Africa’s Danielle du Toit made the cut on the number with a 36-hole total of one-over-par after she responded to a double-bogey six on the 13th with two birdies on 15 and 17 to go with the four birdies and two bogeys she made on her way to a two-under 69.
