If a couple of weeks ago it was Miguel Angel Jimenez who put Spanish golf at the top of the world scene with his victory in the Hong Kong Open that made him the oldest player to win on the European Tour, now it is Carlota Ciganda who takes the international limelight. The Navarre native has been proclaimed number one in Europe in her first year on the professional circuit, marking a milestone in the history of national and continental golf.
Carloga, 22, thus emulates the legendary Laura Davies, who achieved the same feat in 1985. Ciganda conquered the European Order of Merit thanks to her tenth place at the Dubai Open, where her main rival, Germany’s Caroline Masson, could only finish third.
In the year of her debut on the Ladies European Tour (LET), Ciganda has finished in the top ten in twelve tournaments, with two titles this season, at the Deloitte Ladies Open in Holland (June) and the China Open held in November. The player from Ulzama has capped her spectacular year with a total of 251,289 euros, almost 10,500 more than Masson, to lead the final ranking of an Order of Merit that was also previously won by two other Spaniards: Raquel Carriedo, in 2001, and Paula Martí, in 2002.
Until now, no one had been able to win the European circuit in her rookie year since the English Laura Davies, one of the great icons of world golf. Twenty-seven years later, Carlota Ciganda enters the history of the sport, after rising from twentieth to tenth position on the last day in Dubai, where the native was surrounded by family and friends who came to the Arab Emirates.
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