Qualifying for her first Major was already a prize in itself and playing the weekend was a bonus to fill the confidence tank of Julia López Ramírez (+12), an outstanding apprentice at the British, where she measured up for 71 holes; only the 14th on the tough Walton Heath course really choked her in the final round: quintuple bogey. However, she demonstrated her strength with the driver by finishing as the best hitter of the tournament on a stage with substance and against the best professionals in the world.
The Spanish amateur returns to Málaga on a lightning trip before rushing off to the United States, where she is sure to be awaited at Mississippi State with a high-flying reception in line with her excellent summer (European champion individually and by teams and one of the two amateurs who made the cut at the AIG Women’s Open, among other joys). She would surely have liked to sign a final round like her playing partner, the Japanese Mao Saigo (+2), who said goodbye to Surrey with five under. The Costa del Sol player, however, scored seven over par although she actually did not compete badly at all.
She leaves Walton Heath without getting a par or a birdie at hole 1, which has been a thorn in her side all week. Again she slipped off the tee and also at the 2nd. And again she recovered as in the previous three rounds, by sinking birdies at the 5th and 6th. She compensated for the mistake at the 7th with the success at the 10th and was comfortably at par after 11 flags. At the 12th she stumbled again, but the only downside of the whole event for the twenty-something came at the 14th, a par four that cost her to get it forward: quintuple bogey. Then she stumbled at the 17th for a total of seven more on the day, completely conditioned by that ‘9’, and +12 total. At the 14th was curiously where the Englishwoman Charlotte Heath (+7) sealed the duel to be the best amateur of the British. She came with +7 and five holes ahead. The Briton had a five-stroke lead over the Andalusian and at the 14th she made a birdie (six strokes difference between one and the other just on that hole) and settled the head-to-head between the only two amateurs who made the cut.
In any case, Julia’s week has been outstanding in all aspects and she has been seen enjoying the course. Fun and learning. Great combination. In addition, she has shown her best weapon: the driver. The Malaga player was the longest average hitter over the four rounds of the AIG Women’s Open: 284.9 metres (291.5 on Thursday, 273.5 on Friday and 278.5 on Saturday and 296 on Sunday). No one else broke the 280-metre average barrier. The American Allison Lee was second in average distance from the tee with 279.6 metres and third in this section was the Japanese Minami Katsu with 278.1. Julia López has shown in her third professional appointment that from the tee she steps on the ball of any of the stars of the Tour. That is, as she herself admitted to Ten Golf at the beginning of the week, she needs to fine-tune the putt: she was second to last in successful strokes on the green with an average of 1.86 per hole.
