Carlota Ciganda was subjected this Thursday to a third degree by journalists about slow play and her self-disqualification at the Evian Championship. It was after delivering a notable two under par result in the first round of the AIG Women’s British Open at Walton Heath.
Carlota responded as Carlota does, with absolute transparency, sincerity and without filters. She again admitted that she is a slow player, that she knows it, revealed that she is working hard to be faster, but none of that takes away from what happened at Evian still seeming unfair to her and to claim that she is not the only one who has to step up against slow play.
Carlota acknowledged that she has been working with Álvaro Alonso, her caddie, to speed up her routine in the game, especially on the greens. She assures that she has already managed to improve a bit, that she is faster and, above all, that she has achieved it without losing effectiveness in the result. She is happy and a good example was this first day at the British. “We have been practicing the routine and I think we did well today. We were waiting a few holes for the group ahead, so I think we did a good job,” she says.
However, the admission of guilt does not mean that she agrees with what happened at Evian. Carlota maintains that there was a lack of sensitivity on the part of the referee who timed her in those last two holes. “You have to understand that it is professional golf and that we are playing to earn a living and, sometimes, in the majors, if you fall in the rough or in a bad situation, you are going to take longer. If you make a bogey it means a couple more minutes, so I think they should understand it a bit more,” she points out.
In addition, she reiterated the idea of the arbitrariness of when the timing starts. “They always say that the time starts when it’s your turn to play, but when is that? It’s so subjective. I think in the end, if they put a referee in each group, many girls would be penalized and I think sometimes it’s not fair,” she argues.
However, Ciganda’s biggest regret is that she feels she has been singled out and that the behaviour is not the same with everyone. The comparative grievance is what bothers her the most. “I know I’m not fast, as I know there are many faster players out there, but I think there are many other slow players, and they are not penalized and they are not timed as much as me, so I don’t think that’s fair,” she explains.
In the end, Carlota opens a can of worms. She knows she needs to be faster, but she’s not the only one and demands the same treatment for everyone, something she doesn’t perceive. Having said that, she doesn’t want to dwell on it, she puts the matter aside and focuses on playing golf and trying to win this British. “I’m here to play golf and I try to do it as best I can. I think I’m a good person and I respect everyone when I play, so I just hope they do the same with me. However, I don’t want to think too much about it,” she says.
