The Spanish Carlota Ciganda won her first Spanish Open brilliantly this Sunday at the Andalucía Costa del Sol, the last tournament of the European Women’s Golf Circuit, after leading the competition from the second to the last 18 holes, in which she was ahead of her by 4 blows to the runner-up, the Swedish Maja Stark.
With 67 strokes on the last day, 5 under par, Ciganda, a golf reference in Spain and a favorite in this last tournament of the year on the Ladies European Tour (LET), got the title that he was missing, a Spanish Open that he had been looking for for years. and that he has successfully conquered in this 2021 edition held at Los Naranjos Golf Club, in Marbella.
Triumphant farewell
It was the last tournament of the year on the European circuit
The Andalusia Costa del Sol Open was from beginning to end for the Navarrese player, who started the tournament with an error that placed her in fourth place, but as a result of a very high-level performance on the second day and no rival could lower her from the highest: 67 hits on the key day, 273 in the general classification and four more than the second, the Swedish Stark.
On the fourth and last day, Carlota Ciganda started the first hole with three strokes of advantage over the Thai Atthaya Thitikul, finally third and who already arrived mathematically in Marbella as champion of the ‘Race to Costa del Sol’ for her triumphs in previous tournaments.
The considered best Spanish player of all time achieved a valuable ‘eagle’ in hole 5, a ‘birdie’ in hole 8 and downhill, a shot of great merit, and remained reliable in each of the following, while Thikitul went from more to less and the Swedish Maja Stark was able to overcome it to place herself as the only persecutor of Ciganda.
Despite this, the Thai is mathematically champion of the Race to Costa del Sol, the youngest in history to achieve it, at only 18 years old. The other good news for Spanish golf came from Majorcan Nuria Iturrioz with her 65 strokes and 7 under par, a record for the Los Naranjos course, which took her to fifth place.
Carlota Ciganda had already managed to win the national championship in all the lower categories, but in the absolute could only finish seven times in the ‘top 10’ and was very close to winning in 2014 and 2017, when she was runner-up. Now she has become the second Spanish golfer to win a Spanish Open after the consecutive double from Malaga’s Azahara Muñoz in 2016 and 2017.
Thus, it closes the fifth victory in the last chapter of the year of the Ladies European Tour, after a 2021 in which it finished in the twenty-ninth position in the Tokyo Olympic Games and European champion in the Solheim Cup.
