Liz Young’s husband-caddie provided a perfect summary after his expectant wife’s brave bid to qualify for the last two rounds of the Women’s British Open ended in disappointment on Friday.

“The heart was willing but the body gave up on her,” Jonathan Young told Reuters after the Englishwoman, who is seven months pregnant, tired over the closing holes and missed the cut on 149, five over par.

“She did well just to keep going over the last couple of holes. Even if she had made the cut I’m not sure she could have played two more rounds.”

Liz, 33, with her sizeable bump showing beneath a light blue tee-shirt, was exhausted by the time three putts on the 18th green gave her a four-over 76 in the fourth women’s Major of the year.

“I was very tired. I played okay but I just had some loose shots at the end when my back was killing me and my feet were killing me,” she told Reuters after Woburn’s severely undulating fairways and greens got the better of her.

“I was pleased to compete here, I just wish I had a bit more energy for the last six holes. The hills on 14 and 15 wiped me out and it was a battle coming in.

“I know my golf is good enough for me to be here for the weekend, it was whether I had the energy to keep going,” said Young.

“I thought maybe with the 3:30 tee time I had today that I’d have plenty of rest in between the two rounds but it started to hit me around 12 and 13.”

Young, who is expecting a daughter in two months’ time, said her midwife and doctor never advised her not to play this week.

“They just said your body will tell you if you can’t play and my body is telling me that now,” giggled the world number 269.

“Luckily this is my last tournament and obviously you need to have your body fit for labour so I wanted to keep going with the exercise if I could.

“Getting up and getting down to mark my ball on the greens was not the best but at least it’s a non-contact sport so that bit’s alright,” she added with a smile.

Young, who has never won on the Ladies European Tour but has two top-10 finishes this season, said she was already looking forward to returning to the event in 2017.

“The Women’s British Open is always the tournament you want to play in and this is now it for me until probably next May,” she said.

“I’ll be ready for this one next year. It was great to compete and I’m not going to complain – it was my dream to play here.

“I’ve got an exciting time coming up now, it’ll be all change. I’ll have to put the golf clubs away and get ready for the birth,” said Young.

Leona Maguire maintained her impressive form to make the cut quite comfortably at Woburn.

The Curtis Cup star (21) from Slieve Russell, Co Cavan fired a splendid two-under-par70 to add to her 71 of the previous day for a 36-hole total of 141.

Three birdies on the bounce from the fourth set her up well. Maguire dropped strokes at eight and 12 but collected a birdie two on the 17th to complete an excellent performance.

Her fellow Irish international, Olivia Mehaffey, again did not disgrace herself and in fact improved by a stroke on her Thursday performance.

She returned a two-over par 74 to add to her 75 for a 36-hole total of 149. Although that was outside the halfway cut mark, Mehaffey certainly showed that she can handle the bigger stage.

South Korea’s Mirim Lee added a more modest 71 to her record-tying 62 from Thursday to lead on 11 under par. China’s Shanshan Feng was at 10 under alongside the 20-year-old Thai Ariya Jutanugarn.