Number one in earnings and Rookie of the Year on the European Women’s Tour
Spanish women’s golf continues to provide pleasant surprises. If before it was the Malaga-born Azahara Muñoz who grabbed headlines around the world for her magnificent sporting performances, now it is the turn of Carlota Ciganda from Navarre, who closed her magnificent first season, 2012, on the LET, the European Women’s Tour, being awarded Rookie of the Year and having been number one in earnings, with a total of 251,289 euros.
Ciganda, a professional since 2011, became the first player since Britain’s Laura Davies in 1985 to win this award as well as the season’s order of merit. A 22-year-old from Pamplona, the Spanish player won in Holland and China and finished ten times in the top ten in the 19 tournaments she played in 2012.
And that started her journey in the LET apparently without excessive confidence in her possibilities, as she confessed that she had no expectations for that year, just to play, have fun and get to know the level of the Tour. At most, she said, to win a tournament, pass all the cuts or be the rookie of the year.
The young Navarre golfer, British Amateur winner in 2007, indicated that 2012 had been a great year for her, in which she had “played really good golf”, and highlighted as main moments her victories, especially the first one in Holland in the week of her birthday, for which part of her family was on the course.
“Winning in China was also great because I played good golf and had a lot of fun,” said the Navarrese, who highlighted the good relationship with the rest of the players, who are part, in her opinion, of a “family” as well as the work with her ‘caddie’ Javi.
Carlota’s future will surely pass, like Azahara Muñoz, through the LPGA Tour, the US Women’s Tour, although she is in no hurry to join it, which is much better endowed financially than its poor brother on this side of the Atlantic, the LET. And in the rich land of Uncle Sam she was a university champion with Arizona State University, where she studied Sociology.
Alexandra Armas, executive director of the LET, congratulated Ciganda for the recognition and assured that “she has everything it takes to enjoy a long and successful career”.
Carlota starts this year’s competition calendar in February in Australia.
Leave a Reply