Fátima Fernández Cano has made a spectacular move this summer at the Epson Tour and in a (almost) blink of an eye, she has entered the card positions of the LPGA Tour. The Galician has taken the detour of the highway in time to return to the best circuit of women’s golf.
The Galician has done it practically in a month and a half. She started in mid-July, when she linked a fourth place at the Hartford Healthcare Women’s Championship and a third at the Twin Bridges Championship. She had been two months without stepping on the Epson Tour and decided to give it a push in the summer. And what a push. The following month, already in August, she signed another good performance at the Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic, where she finished in 32nd place, in a week where birdies were made aplenty, and finished the job last week with a sensational performance at the Four Winds Invitational, in Indiana.
The player from Santiago de Compostela was about to win the tournament. In fact, she arrived as leader with three holes to go, but two final bogeys left her with a bitter taste in her mouth. Despite everything, she managed to finish second, giving a new stretch in the Race For the Card, the ranking of the Epson Tour. Thus, as we say, in a month and a half, she has managed to get into the eleventh position of the ranking, fully involved in the fight for the LPGA cards. This season it is the top 15 who will make the jump to the first division.
Fátima has arrived in time, at the exact moment. There are just three regular tournaments left and the grand final at Indian Wells. The first goal is to finish in the top ten, as the category is much better, but as a lesser evil, a place between 11th and 15th grants at least some playing rights in the LPGA.
In these last four tournaments, Fátima has made a significant leap in quality in her game. Of the twelve rounds she has played, she has scored under 70 strokes on eight occasions and her average is 69.16, very powerful. It can be said without any doubt that she is the most in-form golfer on the Epson Tour at the moment. She is flirting with victory and it could well come this very week. Tomorrow Friday the Guardian Championship starts in Alabama, her home in the United States. The following week is the Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic, also in Alabama and the following one is the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout, in Arkansas. Then comes a week off before giving way to the grand final at Indian Wells.
The Epson Tour has modified this year the way to measure its classification. Until 2023 it was done by the earnings obtained tournament by tournament, but from this course it is done by points. A victory this week, for example, could put Fátima in the third position of the ranking.
It is very meritorious, once again, what Fernández Cano is doing. It should be remembered that she started the year with the cards of the Ladies European Tour and the Epson Tour active. In the first months she was alternating both circuits, with the difficulty that this entails due to transoceanic trips, beyond, of course, the economic investment that it entails. Finally, from the summer, in view of her good results in the second division of the United States, she has decided to focus there and the results are accompanying her. There are four tournaments left to finish the job and ascend once again to the LPGA through the Epson, something she has already achieved twice in her career.
The Huelva-born Teresa Toscano is also fighting to get into the top 15 of the Epson ranking. She currently holds the 60th position and still has margin. In fact, a victory this week could even put her among the top 15.
