One of the great attractions this week at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España, which takes place from this Thursday at the Real Guadalhorce Golf Club in Málaga, is to find out which ten players will finish at the top of the Ladies European Tour order of merit. In other words, which ten players will earn the right to play directly in the final of the LPGA Tour School, also called the Q Series, which will take place next week in the United States. In this battle, we have two Spanish players deeply involved. One is Nuria Iturrioz and the other is Luna Sobrón. Both have mathematical chances of finishing the year in that coveted top 10 depending on their performance this week.
The one who doesn’t have mathematical chances in Guadalhorce and doesn’t need them is Azahara Muñoz. The Malaga golfer, returning to the Open de España after a year of absence, was automatically qualified for the Final of the School due to her final position in the Race to CME Globe, 105th place. She has lost full LPGA Tour rights but maintains a category that will allow her to play some tournaments and had the option to go to the Q Series to try to slightly improve her status on the circuit for next year.
Well, Azahara, after considering it, has decided not to compete in the final of the LPGA Tour School and to take her chances with her current category. Her reasoning makes a lot of sense. The difference between her current status and what she would have if she earned the card through the Final of the School would not be very different. In return, the suffering and stress of the Q Series is enormous. Last year she played it, earned playing rights, and shortly after confessed she would not play it again. It had been a very tough experience. It is five days of really hard competition.
The truth is that whether with her conditional category or the one from the School, the key is to perform very well in the first tournaments she has the opportunity to play. There really isn’t much difference at the start in the number of opportunities with one category or the other. However, she is obliged to make very good performances in those first tournaments to position herself well in the re-ranking and from there have many playing opportunities. That is her big bet.
As things stand, three Spanish players are currently confirmed to play the final of the LPGA Tour School: Carla Bernat, Carolina López Chacarra, and Carla Tejedo. In the best-case scenario, they could be joined by Nuria Iturrioz and Carla Tejedo. Carla also has a conditional category due to her performance on the Epson Tour, but with the school, she will try to improve it.
