At the pace of powerful swings and consistent birdies, first and fourth classified after the first 18 holes of competition, the Galician Fátima Fernández Cano and the Navarrese Carlota Ciganda have acquired serious prominence in the start of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España at Los Naranjos Golf Club.
With rounds of 3 and 2 under par, respectively, both have given Spanish color to the top of the ranking, a color intensified by the presence of Ana Pelaez and Nuria Iturrioz, installed in eighth place with 71 strokes that also give them an important role for the remainder of the tournament.
It is true that the Spanish party that has led to the competition in its early stages was joined, as it could not be otherwise, by other leading players, such as the French Anne-Lise Caudal or the Belgian Manon de Roey, who co-lead the table along with Fatima Fernandez Cano after completing rounds of 69 strokes.
All of them, however, are clear that it is essential to provide patience to each of their future actions in a demanding field to which very few have taken the pulse in these first steps of the competition.
Fatima Fernandez Cano, one of the most promising Spanish golfers, exultant after getting the LPGA card for next season, extended her good form at the start of this exciting tournament, where the unknowns far outweigh the certainties.
The Galician, very solid from the tees, exhibited all kinds of skills on a varied course that populates the cards of both birdies and bogeys. Outstanding in the first part of the course, she ratified in the second a performance that makes her the focus of attention for the large group of fans that reinforces the family and friends who have come to support her.
The same goes for Carlota Ciganda and her loyal parish of followers. The Navarrese battled as usual in her face, face, expertly solving complicated situations before giving her round a real shine with three outstanding holes between 14 and 16. She was even about to score another birdie on the last hole to join the populous co-leaders, but for the moment she remains on the lookout, very well positioned.
A little further back, defending their options with their characteristic grit, Ana Pelaéz and Nuria Iturrioz left the scorecard table with a broad smile on their faces. Seventy-one strokes, one under par, might seem a common result, an adjective that does not fit in a course like Los Naranjos, which hides all kinds of traps, increased even more if possible by the significant wind present throughout its varied course.
Thus, with 54 holes to go, a fact for reflection: only a dozen players at par or under par of the total of 72 participants showed, results in hand, that beating the field is complicated, that the differences are minimal and that this equality of forces introduces the tournament, at the first change, by the field of uncertainty and spectacle. However, with a strong Spanish color at the top of the ranking thanks to Fátima Fernández Cano, Carlota Ciganda, Ana Peláez, Nuria Iturrios…
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CLASSIFICATION (after the first day)
1.- Fátima Fernández Cano (ESP), 69
+Anne-Lise Caudal (Fra), 69
+.- Manon de Roey (Bel), 69
4.- Carlota Ciganda (ESP), 70
8.- Ana Peláez (ESP), 71
+Nuria Iturrioz (ESP), 71
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AROUND THE GREEN
Lee Anne Pace’s sensational hole-in-one
Lee Anne Pace completed with a single stroke the 8th hole of Los Naranjos Golf Club, a par 3 of 154 meters. The South African golfer celebrated the feat with her match partners, jumping back into the limelight for even more successful actions, such as the triumph in this competition in 2013, at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, second places in 2011 and 2017 and the triumph in the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit in 2010.
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Thirty-three years later, another Women’s Open at Los Naranjos
Some of the staff at Los Naranjos Golf Club still remember the WPGA Tour’s Women’s Marbella Open, the previous incarnation of the LET, which was played at this beautiful course in Marbella 33 years ago. Then as now, the best players of the European continent gathered in one of the most emblematic courses of the Costa del Sol, which is the life history of the sport of golf. Special mention for Chema, starter on the 10th tee in this edition, whose father also participated actively in the Marbella Open Women 33 years ago and who has started to recover newspaper clippings and magazines of the time to recall those emotions.
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Nine winding holes, nine flat holes, eighteen holes full of interesting complexities
Los Naranjos Golf Club is a surprising course within a large urbanization such as Nueva Andalucía, a course hidden from view when you walk through it but which manifests itself in all its splendor as soon as you pass through the door of its beautiful clubhouse. It is then when, either on one side or on the other, the various panoramic views of the course are displayed with unusual grandeur, a magnificent course that has a more sinuous first round that gives way to a flatter one, but which as a whole is 18 holes full of interesting complexities that are well worth a visit.
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