Carlota Ciganda gave her home fans plenty to cheer about when securing a one-stroke victory at the season-ending Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España on the Ladies European Tour.
The Spanish star held a four-shot lead overnight, but it was a rocky start to the final day as she made two bogeys in her opening three holes at Real Club Guadalhorce Golf.
After just four holes her lead evaporated with back-to-back birdies from Belgium’s Manon De Roey as the duo battled it out.
Ciganda made her first birdies of the day on the fifth and added another on the seventh to have a one-shot lead over De Rosy, who also birdied the seventh
On the back nine, Ciganda made a clutch approach shot and putt after finding the water on 10 to walk away with a par but De Roey drew level on -17 with a three-foot birdie on 12.
However, on 14 the Spanish star went back in front with a short birdie putt of her own and extended her advantage to two shots with a birdie on 17 and although she made a bogey at the last, she won with a total of 18-under-par.
“I’m very happy to win here in Spain in front of so many people and my family” said Ciganda. “It wasn’t easy, sometimes when you have a four-shot lead it’s not easy. I haven’t been up there in a while, so I had some adrenaline going on and started with a couple of bogeys, so things were pretty tight those first few holes.
“I fought hard and I love when we are right there, I love to hit good shots, so I made a really good birdie on 14 and the putt on 17 was great too. I’m really happy to win here in Spain.”
DE ROEY PUTS UP A FIGHT
Belgium’s De Roey put up a great fight on the final day firing a bogey-free 68 to finish in outright second
“I knew I had to make a lot of birdies today, I got off to a good start and Carlota didn’t start that well,” said the two-time LET winner.
“It was up and down the whole round; I got really close. I’m very happy with how I played, I played bogey-free again and didn’t really make any mistakes. I’m still really happy.
Indiia’s Pranavi Urs recorded her best-ever finish on the LET with a solo third after a final round of 69.
In the LET Order of Merit, the top three in the rankings finished as Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini with 2,718 points, Belgium’s Manon De Roey with 2,216 points and England’s Charley Hull with 1,742 points.
Ciganda jumped from 81st up to 28th in the rankings, while France’s Celine Herbin secured the crucial 70th spot in the Order of Merit to keep her full LET card for 2025.
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