Álvaro Alonso knows the game very well. Since 2013, he has not only been carrying the bag for several professional players, but also, meticulous as he is, he analyses the golf of his bosses, from the Peruvian María Salinas, with whom he began his journey as a caddie, to Carlota Ciganda, with whom he has just completed his second full season as a faithful squire, through the Mexican Gaby López. Also at the end of 2023, he carried the clubs for two weeks in Morocco for Luna Sobrón, his girlfriend for six years, who finished fourth in the Final of the Ladies European Tour School (LET) and got her ticket to the European Circuit, a joy after a grey campaign being decimated by a back injury.
The Bercian from Ponferrada analyses the present and future of both, and predicts that the best is yet to come after a brilliant course of the Navarrese and a tortuous year for the Balearic, albeit with a happy ending.
“The year with Carlota has been great, she herself has said that she feels it has been the best of her career. Apart from having won in Florida, we have been many weeks up in United States close to winning (third in the Portland Classic) and we also reached the 18 with options in the KPMG of Basturol. And we have improved in almost all the numbers, she is the only player in stroke gained that in all facets is in positive, and that is very good, and in average of strokes she is among the ten best of the LPGA (tenth with 70,197 strokes, only surpassed in her career by the 69,943 in 2019 and by the 70,088 in 2018)”, comments Álvaro.
Obviously, the fairy tale ending came at Finca Cortesín, when Ciganda broke the tie after Nelly Korda’s comeback with two dream shots on the 16th and 17th: “Wow! The dream ending, after the 8th hole we were three up and you want to win as soon as possible, but seeing how Nelly was recovering, going out tied to the 16th and ending as we ended, I prefer it to have ended on the 14th. It was apocalyptic, I will always remember it, the walk down the 16th fairway, to the 16th green with everyone crazy after Carlota’s shot, the shot of the 17th, going towards the green with people bouncing, chanting her name… It was super exciting. I had never experienced that on a golf course and it’s like being in a football match inside the course and seeing everyone crazy shouting. It is totally different to what you are used to and on top of that it was in Spain which makes it even more special”, he recalls with goosebumps.
Carlota’s moment 💙
Relive behind the scenes moments from @TheSolheimCup in our exclusive documentary ‘Inside the Ropes’ 🎥#RaiseOurGame | #TeamEurope
— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) December 23, 2023
Growth. That was the plan at the start of 2023 and Alonso testifies that the Navarrese has gone from strength to strength during the season, “playing to win many weeks in the United States, where the level is brutal and where any player can triumph and I think that Carlota has been the only one who is positive in all areas and that indicates that things are being done well, with a lot of confidence and a lot of desire to continue”. The world ranking reflects this improvement of the Navarrese, as she has moved up 29 places. “Since I started with her”, continues Álvaro, “I already told her that I would like us to achieve her best position in the ranking and that she returns to the top ten in the world. We also had two good opportunities in 2022 and 2023 to win Majors and one of the challenges of next year will be that without a doubt; besides, I think that the Major courses can help us because you have to make a good strategy and Carlota is one of the best golf strickers. I hope 2024 will be even better than this season”.
The situation of Luna is completely different, but Álvaro Alonso is fully convinced that she will give a better version in “the next five or six years, there she will play her best golf”. After a course full of hardships due to the damn back injury (a disc protrusion in the lumbar area) for which she could hardly do physical work and for which she always had anti-inflammatories at hand to contain the pains, a new treatment with physios and a good physical work has given her life at the end of this campaign, as she has demonstrated in Morocco, where she passed with honours her pass to the LET. She is healthy and gets results, the magic formula. Eureka!
She can now work out in the gym and she looks much more motivated, filling the tank with energy: Luna wants to have a good year in the LET, settle down, find a little bit of tranquillity, but with the aim of returning to the United States, but after doing very well in Europe, trying to win and improving in the rankings. “I have no doubt that Luna can do very well in the United States”, concludes Álvaro. The Balearic has had the full LPGA card for three years since 2018 and two conditional ones. “The fact that she has been there for five years also says a lot about the type of player she is, the level she has because it is not easy to be or stay there for so long. I know she has more than enough golf to be up there, with the best, without a doubt. I know her time will come and that the best of Luna is yet to come”.
She had a fabulous amateur stage (top ten in the world). Looking at it in perspective, could the expectations have weighed? “She turned professional in 2017 and went straight from the amateur world to the LPGA, she didn’t have that previous experience that helps a lot to go to study in the United States, compete there, be more independent… It all came at once. Although she has been well guided and accompanied, and has always had and has the support of the Spanish Federation, there are things that could have been done differently. Even so”, recalls Álvaro, “at the beginning she started very strong because in her first tournament with a card in Bahamas she was leading and in Australia the same, so her first two weeks in the LPGA were very good. Then she missed some cuts, was left out of the first Major of the year and a little bit of doubt arose, you lose cuts, then the card and the next year you have a conditional one, you are between Europe and the United States, and in the end when you go from amateur to professional the difference is brutal. There are people who need a little more time and maybe she is one; now she has the experience of the six years lived and that counts. She has good years ahead and hopefully she will be well in the back to meet all her goals and give her best version”, he predicts.
We put Álvaro in a complicated situation. Or not so much. Apart from being very exciting, which of the two players would he go with if they were playing for victory in a tournament? “That would be incredible, I hope so. But I don’t doubt it, I go with whoever I work with. I am competitive and I like to win always, I don’t like to lose in anything. Although it would make me very happy if that situation arose where both were fighting for a title, and many more, it would make me very happy”, closes the Leonese caddie, eager for this 2024 to bring many good things to his boss and his girlfriend. He is convinced that the best for both is yet to come.
