Nuria Iturrioz (-8) is the solo leader of the Andalusia Costa del Sol Open of Spain after closing the second round with a 70 and thus finishing off a long day of 27 holes, after Thursday’s suspension due to the tremendous downpour that swept Guadalmina.
Not much for the Balearic Islands: “I could still be there playing, I would not have minded,” he pointed out as soon as the little marathon was finished. And it is that the situations crossed, difficult, those that are out of the ordinary, either due to abundance of water, thunder or lightning, or because of a hurricane wind, or because you have to spend seven hours in the field (as has been the case ), seem to focus her even more on her game. It’s as if the most difficult scenarios bring out the best in her. There are precedents in this regard. For example, that victory of his in Morocco, the first he achieved in the LET, underwater. Or that first round in the British this year, when the wind upset most of them and she marched like nothing for Royal Troon… The Balearic has a race.
Nuria Iturrioz takes the opportunity to take the lead in Guadalmina
And that has cost a little more to interpret the speed of the greens (faster in the second round, once the roller had done its work in the parenthesis between one round and another), because otherwise we could be talking about an even more established and dominating leader. Little or nothing, in any case, the young Spanish woman can blame herself, since she has missed very few blows. The day she finds that point of consistency, solidity or regularity, as you prefer, Nuria can turn week after week into a real headache for the rest of the competitors …
Cross your fingers and run what you can to avoid a 54-hole tournament
The tournament is messy because of the rain, it is true, and this Saturday we will still have to shelve the second round, still incomplete, before advancing as much as possible with the third while everyone crosses their fingers so that the storm expected on Sunday is not so bad. Messy because of the weather, yes, but exciting. To begin with, because three strokes from the Balearic Islands, also with the first 36 holes completed, it has already been placed Emily Kristine Pedersen (-5), the number One of the Race to Costa del Sol whatever happens in this last event on the calendar, which is also going through an exalted moment of form. Between the two, the Scottish has slipped Kelsey Macdonald with a cumulative -6, but still with eleven holes to play in the second round.
Azahara surpasses 75 minutes of ‘terror’ and prepares for an epic comeback
For its part, another of the great favorites a priori, Azahara Munoz (+2), she’s falling a little behind Today, Friday, he has only been able to play eight holes and he has done so with a partial PAR insufficient to reach the top of the table. The malagueña, by the eye of a good cuber, needs to finish tomorrow with a cumulative record below par to give herself a comeback option. He has to play, yes, the second nine of the Guadalmina route, where three of the par 5s are concentrated.
Moon moves in Guadalmina like a fish in water
Sobrón Moon, with a partial over par in the nine holes that has given him time to play and an accumulated -1 is also in time to get up there, in the ointment. She also has to play the three pairs 5 of the second nine.
At the moment, there are fifteen Spanish women who are within a cut that is currently at +7, although many of them still have to finish the second round. Others, however, have already confirmed their presence in the last two rounds (or whatever the rain allows them to play …). Is about Natalia Escuriola (+4), Camila Hedberg (+4) and Maria Parra (+5), besides Iturrioz, obviously.
The first day of the Andalusia Costa del Sol Open in Spain, in photos
With Nuria at the top, it is worth the opportunity to remind those who remain undecided that Iturrioz is written like this, with a final ‘zeta’. Let us therefore banish Iturrios, with due respect, which also had its meaning and reason for being (it is a long story that goes from the Basque Country to Mallorca, passing through Argentina): Iturrioz is written with ‘zeta’. With zeta of race.
