Carlota Ciganda completes a great first day in Villa Padierna with a round of 67 strokes (-6), only surpassed by the English Cara Gainer, with one less stroke, while Azahara Muñoz and Nuria Iturrioz do not lose sight of the top of the classification (-4). The Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España has started as expected, with the Spanish Armada spurred on by the fact of playing in Spain and forgetting that the season has been very long.
Of the Spanish group, Carlota Ciganda especially stood out, who has once again shown that she is not bluffing when she says that she loves playing in her country and that this fact motivates her especially. And the best proof of this is the return with which The Navarrese golfer has completed the course at Alferini Golf, in Villa Padierna. Carlota began the round with five pars in a row, as if she were analyzing her rival, until on hole 6 she signed her first birdie, which was followed by another on hole 8. However, in the second round she undid all the way she had walked. by delivering a double bogey on the 10th hole.
This result, far from discouraging her, unleashed a veritable cyclone that began on the 13th hole and did not end until the 18th hole, with a fantastic sequence of six birdies that resulted in a total of 67 shots (-6), a card that only He was able to overcome the English Cara Gainer, the first leader of the tournament. “I think this is a field that requires a lot of patience. The important thing is to keep calm and I am very happy with how happy I have fought and fought in difficult moments”, summed up Ciganda.
The fans who gathered at Villa Padiera were also able to enjoy the game of the Swedish Linn Grant and Maja Stark, who shared a match with Carlota Ciganda and are immersed in their particular duel to win the Race to Costa del Sol. For now, the first He gets a slight advantage by signing 68 shots (-5), one less than his compatriot. Before Carlota Ciganda closed her great match, Nuria Iturrioz and Azahara Muñoz showed her candidacy for the title with rounds of 69 shots (-4).
In the case of the Spaniard, she was not discouraged by a double bogey on hole 15 that she defined as “a silly mistake” and that she amended in the best possible way, with six birdies, for a round in which “what happened to me of everything but in which I have also had a bit of luck, so you can be happy. I’ve made quite a few putts and I feel good”. As for the woman from Malaga, one of the local stars, she was very regular, with just one bogey and a good streak with four birdies in five holes (15, 15, 16 and 17), in addition to the one achieved on hole 4. A result that did not surprise him because “I have been training quite well. I didn’t really know how I was going to feel but once I started playing, the adrenaline helps a lot. I felt very good on the field and I hit the ball very well, so I couldn’t be happier”.
After the three best Spaniards of the day, three other golfers appear at the top of the ranking who never cease to amaze wherever they go, both for their game and for their amateur status. Cayetana Fernández and Carla Tejedo finished with identical rounds of 70 shots (-3) and Paula Martín was only one shot away, in what is expected to be a beautiful fight for the first edition of the Celia Barquín Award, the award created to remember the ill-fated golfer and who will reward the best amateur player of this Andalucía Costa de Sol Open in Spain.
The Andalucía Costa del Sol Open in Spain, in addition to closing the Ladies European Tour season and proclaiming the winner of the Race To Costa del Sol for the third consecutive edition, will be the fourth event of this circuit that will be held this year in our country with an amount in prizes of €650,000. In addition, there will also be a bonus of €250,000 for the top three ranked in the order of merit of the European Women’s Circuit.