Although their careers differ and years and successes separate them, Fatima Fernandez Cano and Beatriz Recari are united by the desire with which they face the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de España, the last event of the Ladies European Tour season and the culmination of the Race to Costa del Sol, ranking of this circuit. The two Spaniards will play from Thursday 25th at Los Naranjos after receiving well-deserved invitations and face the challenge of the Robert Trent Jones Sr. design with overflowing enthusiasm.
The Galician Fátima Fernández Cano, with an incipient but already successful career after having achieved an unprecedented record for a Spanish golfer (getting the LPGA Tour card through the Symetra Tour, its promotional circuit), returns home to vindicate herself before the national public that has followed her adventures, to date, from a distance.
“I am super happy to have achieved the full LPGA card, and very happy to be back in Spain. Sometimes I get used to what we have there and I don’t realize all the good things we have here”, explained Fernández Cano.
The golfer from Santiago de Compostela felt at ease on the Marbella course during the Pro-Am and is clear about what could be the decisive factor.
“I really enjoyed today, it was a lot of fun. I really liked the second round, because it is more open and the wind has a lot of influence, but overall I liked it a lot,” recapped the Galician. “The key is the greens. Most of them are small, they are not very hard and we have been able to attack flags, so if you take the greens you will have good opportunities”.
Beatriz Recari, winner of three LPGA Tour tournaments (another record among Spanish golfers) and champion of the 2013 Solheim Cup, returns to compete after a long break and faces the tournament with the enthusiasm of a newcomer.
“I had a very good feeling today. Yesterday was the first day I played 18 holes in over a year, and I really enjoyed it. It was novel again to remember the routine of preparing the strategy. I finished tired, but with a very good feeling. And today, it was the first 18-hole round in Pro-Am competition, and the truth is that I am very happy”, explained Recari.
To compete with guarantees in another top tournament, Recari knew what aspects of the game she had to emphasize.
“Above all, in the short game and the approach game. I have worked on the technical part, but it is very important for the tournament to prepare the short game, because it is what gives you good results and not have the feeling of having missed shots. From 8 iron downwards is what I have worked on the most”, he explained.
Beatriz Recari’s face lit up when answering a simple question. If she had to choose a word to define her return to golf, what would it be: challenge, commitment, illusion, springboard?
“I’m excited. I’ve been stopped for more than a year and that’s why I’m very excited to compete again. Golf has been a very important part of my life, for a long time I thought I would not have that feeling again and here we are, trying to enjoy it to the fullest. Even if I am the last one, I will be very grateful to be able to have that feeling of competing again”, she answered with a smile, although she did not dare to speak of continuity, optimism prevailed in her words. “After this week we will see. I live in the present and I have many emotions at the same time. I did not know I was going to be here, I have learned not to make plans and I am very happy to be here. I am optimistic, I have felt very well. I’m back on track.
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Los Naranjos Golf Club hosts the ceremony of the AMMDE Sports Awards 2021
After crowning at Los Naranjos Golf Club the champions of Tuesday’s Pro-Am (tournament in which the team captained by Belgian Manon De Roey won, followed by the team of Spanish Fátima Fernández Cano and the Swedish Linda Wessberg), the ceremony of the AMMDE Sports Awards took place, national awards of the Multisectorial Association of Women Managers and Businesswomen that were created with the purpose of making visible the female talent and the trajectory of women with an outstanding career.
The jury chaired by Carmela Fernández Piera, director of AMMDE, voted unanimously to award the prizes to Elvira Larrazábal, the first woman with a professional license in Spain, and Marta Figueras-Dotti, current president of the Ladies European Tour, in the category of “Woman of Reference”, and to the professionals Azahara Muñoz and Carlota Ciganda, in the category of “Professional Career”.
In this way, AMMDE pays tribute to the pioneers in Spain who have obtained important achievements without the deserved recognition and to the young women who are standing out right now, reaping the fruits that their predecessors have been sowing over the years. The association also decided to hold the awards ceremony during the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España to recognize the commitment of the Costa del Sol and Andalucía to golf, an endorsement that has made possible the milestone of bringing the Solheim Cup to Spain for the first time in 2023.
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Tickets and television broadcasts
It is still possible to get free tickets to attend the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España by visiting the Tickets section of the tournament’s website openfemenino.com and filling in the corresponding form. Those who cannot travel to Los Naranjos Golf Club will have the option of enjoying extensive television coverage of the event, which will have three hours of live coverage daily, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., from Thursday 25 to Sunday 28, on Teledeporte, Movistar + Golf and Canal Sur.
The Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España 2021 will be held at Los Naranjos Golf Club from 25 to 28 November and is part of the program of the Solheim Cup 2023, an event declared an Event of Exceptional Public Interest (AEIP) and which provides significant tax benefits to participating companies. The Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España has the main sponsorship of Andalucía, Costa del Sol and Acosol, who together with the Marbella Town Hall, the Benahavís Town Hall, Reale Seguros and the rest of the collaborators and organizing entities make this event possible.
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