“The year is being good, I want to be there, qualify on my own and Solheim is my favorite tournament, it motivates me a lot, also this year being at home, well even more. I would love not only to play it but also to win it, for Spain and for Europe”, says the 33-year-old from Navarra. Charlotte Ciganda before the LPGA Championship, which starts this Thursday in Baltusrol (New Jersey, USA), a historic venue that has hosted seven US Open and two PGA men’s, and three editions of the US Open for women. The elite of girls did not stop there, however, since 1995.
On her return it will be the 35-year-old Andalusian Azahara Muñoz who completes the Spanish representation. Out of the fields for a good part of 2022 after her maternity, she admits that she is “quite well”. Every time I am getting closer to how I was playing before, last week I already felt much better hitting the ball very well at last. I look forward to it, this course is a great one, you have to play very well”, he completes, referring to the Lower Course in Baltusrol, a par 72 that normally becomes par 70 for competitive golf, designed by one of the greats of the classical school, Tillinghast, in 1922.
“You learn from everything, I am much calmer. It took me a bit to pick up the pace and I think I’m getting there. I have seen both rounds and you have to play very well. You have to take a lot of fairways and greens”, affirms Azahara, who has a fourth place in 2014 for the best performance in this great one, one of the five on the women’s circuit. Ciganda for her part was third in 2020. “The course seems spectacular to me, it is a very demanding test, we have three par fives, long shots to the green, the greens are quite large… I think the round under par is very good” , reels from Pamplona.
“I am working on the long game, trying to hit the ball well, but without forgetting the short game, also with the putt, I am going to try to do what I do every week, the preparation that I do prior to the tournament, play, train and have all facets controlled”, finishes off a player who already knows what it is to win this year, champion in the Aramco Series in Florida.