Without detracting from any of the components of the powerful team that will fight for the title of the Andaluc\u00eda Costa del Sol Open de Espa\u00f1a, it is undeniable that the eyes of the press and the fans are focused on two golfers of different origins but immense talent: Spain\u2019s Azahara Mu\u00f1oz and Denmark\u2019s Emily Kristine Pedersen. From the 26th to the 29th of November, the Real Club de Golf Guadalmina will act as judge and party in the tournament that puts an end to the Race to Costa del Sol, the order of merit of the circuit, and these two European stars will compete for the trophy of this classic of the international calendar, the sixtieth tournament of the Ladies European Tour to be held in Spain.
The Andaluc\u00eda Costa del Sol Open de Espa\u00f1a always serves as a balm for Azahara Mu\u00f1oz, the only Spaniard who has won this competition (in 2016 and 2017) and who also came close to victory in the last two editions. The golfer from San Pedro de Alc\u00e1ntara will feel very close the warmth of her people and the fans, although the current circumstances prevent the very large crowd that usually attends this competition from accompanying the Spaniard.
\u201cWhenever I go back home I love it and, in Guadalmina, obviously even more. It brings back very good memories of when I was little and this is where I grew up. It\u2019s a shame that people can\u2019t be supporting me on the course, but I know they\u2019ll be behind me anyway. As for mine, I hadn\u2019t seen the family since December and when I saw them yesterday, you can imagine how happy I was. This week I\u2019m going to give it my all, but just seeing them makes me very happy\u201d.
Azahara Mu\u00f1oz arrives at the only Ladies European Tour event to be played in 2020 in our country with the desire to change the trend with the putter that has prevented her from achieving more brilliant results in recent LPGA Tour events.
\u201cIt\u2019s been a very strange year, but I feel good. Above all, I\u2019m looking forward to it. This tournament means a lot to me and then comes the U.S. Open and the Tour Championship, so it\u2019s a pretty good end to the season. As I said, I\u2019ve been playing well, but I\u2019ve been quite cold with my putting. Let\u2019s see if Marcelo [Prieto] helps me with that and we work it out.\u201d
The physical remoteness imposed by the pandemic has also complicated training and adjustments, but at the Real Club de Golf Guadalmina the sampedre\u00f1a has had the opportunity to meet with her trusted technician.
\u201cI haven\u2019t been able to see Marcelo since February and the truth is that it\u2019s complicated. I do send him videos, but it\u2019s not the same as in person and being able to train with him this week is a plus, without a doubt.\u201d
Emily Kristine Pedersen, who has already won four titles this year, three of them in a row in Saudi Arabia (The Saudi Ladies International and both the individual and the collective classification of The Saudi Ladies Team International) leads the Race to Costa del Sol with a remarkable advantage and, on paper, seems the most fearsome rival. It so happens that Mu\u00f1oz and Pedersen have already met fighting for the title of the Scottish Open, the event with which the Ladies European Tour resumed after the break for the covid, and in which both shared the second place behind the American Stacy Lewis. The Dane is clear that, although a priori the covid interrupted her progression, in the long run it has been good for her game.
\u201cAt first it was a disappointment because I was starting to play well and after South Africa I had a solid base, but in hindsight I think it was good to come home and work on a few things, make a few technical adjustments and prepare for the Scottish Open,\u201d recalled Pedersen, who sees the Scottish event as the turning point of the season.
Pedersen has certainly demonstrated his versatility on courses of all types and in a variety of conditions. After shining in the Scottish Open and the British Open in typically Scottish weather, he won in the Czech Republic and then shone in Saudi Arabia. At the Real Club de Golf Guadalmina it seems that there won\u2019t be too much wind and the forecast predicts rain for Thursday, but Pedersen is not imposed by the weather difficulties.
\u201cI\u2019m used to wind and rain. I usually do well when conditions are difficult. I take it one stroke at a time and when the situation gets complicated I don\u2019t usually anticipate events, as I focus on taking every shot forward,\u201d summarized the Dane.
Without a doubt, Pedersen has shown that she is capable of overcoming the difficulties that led her to spend the 2018 season practically blank after a flying start to her career in which she won her first victory and the rookie of the year title in 2015. Five years later, the Dane faces a new stage of her career with renewed energy and the illusion fueled by her recent triumphs, but Azahara Mu\u00f1oz and the rest of the Spanish Armada (composed of 18 players in total) are more than willing to prevent her from winning the title. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Without detracting from any of the components of the powerful team that will fight for the title of the Andaluc\u00eda Costa del Sol Open de Espa\u00f1a, it is undeniable that the eyes of the press and the fans are focused on two golfers of different origins but immense talent: Spain\u2019s Azahara Mu\u00f1oz and Denmark\u2019s Emily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}