The victory in the Lalla Meryem Cup, a tournament of the Ladies European Tour that is taking place this week on the Blue course of the Royal Golf Dar es Salam in Rabat, seems to be a two-horse race. It would be surprising if the trophy does not go to Mexico or France. Odds or evens.
María Fassi (-12) leads the tournament with authority and only Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (-8) appears distant in the rear-view mirror as a threat. The third place, occupied by the Moroccan Ines Laklalech (-5), is already seven strokes behind the Mexican.
Too much ground with 18 holes left. Only if one of those coming from behind signed the round of the year, there would be a match. Likely, they would have to improve the 65, eight under par, that Fassi delivered on the first day. Thus, under normal conditions, the matter is between Fassi and Roussin.
One of the few who still has room to go crazy this Saturday and win the tournament is the Spanish Fátima Fernández Cano (-4). The Galician golfer has given herself an extraordinary joy this Friday. One of those that the body asks for from time to time and that she had not found on the golf course for a long time.
The golfer from Compostela has delivered a card of 68 strokes, five under par since the course is par 73, and has placed herself in the fourth position. It is not just another round of golf. It is something significant and something to dwell on. That five under is her best result in relation to par both on the Ladies European Tour and on the LPGA. A day to remember. Just like that.
A day to remember what an extraordinary golfer she is. To remember that Fátima achieved promotion to the LPGA through the Epson Tour twice. To remember that she is a winner. To remember that she is capable of signing rounds of 61 strokes like the one she did in Arizona in the Epson tournament she won in March 2022. To remember that in her only incursion into the LET in 2021 she finished fourth in the Spanish Open.
Her round of 68 strokes, the third-best of the day after Roussin’s 67 and Sara Kouskova, is also a round to forget. To forget the bad times. To forget the consultations with eight different doctors to understand why her right arm hurt. To forget the six months she spent without picking up a club last year. To forget the uncertainty (and fear) of not knowing if she would ever play without pain again. To forget those nerves on the plane from Alabama to Morocco in December when she didn’t know if her arm would withstand the LET school. But she did. And she got the card. And now, again in Morocco, she gives herself this joy.
Beyond the 68 strokes, it should be noted that they have been without errors and with five birdies. In addition, the conditions were not easy. It has rained in Rabat and the course was heavy and uncomfortable, although that is not something that is going to scare a Galician resident in Alabama. No, they won’t catch her there.
Fátima will have the opportunity tomorrow to sign a great result. We’ll see. The victory, as we say, is far away, eight strokes, but you never know. In any case, whatever happens this Saturday, today is a giant step. It means finding herself again with her best version in a top-level tournament. It means proving things that never hurt. Fátima has returned to stay. To stay in the elite.
Teresa Toscano (-3) will also have her distant chance. The player from Huelva has managed to lift a round today that had become very uphill, with four bogeys between holes 12 and 17 (she started at 10). She managed to finish with 74 strokes, one over par, to place herself in tenth place, perfectly positioned to fight for a great result tomorrow.
Similarly, Nuria Iturrioz (+1), Luna Sobrón (+2), Marta Martín (+2) and Ana Peláez (+3) made the cut. The cut closed at +4.
