– No one can be surprised that this week Azahara Muñoz is described as a local player. After all, she spent a good part of her childhood at the Real Guadalhorce Golf Club. However, she is surprised and does not agree. “Yes, it’s true that I played a lot here as a child, but the last competition was when I was 16, an Interclubs… It’s been more than 20 years, so local, local, I’m not sure. The greens have changed a lot, although it’s true that as I played, I started remembering those childhood rounds. It’s curious how memory works in golf and how quickly you start recalling holes and shots,” she notes.
Azahara started with a good round of 70 strokes. She doesn’t complain, although it’s true she was at -4 and there’s a bit of a strange taste left at the end. She played very well, hit good shots, and was just a finger away from finishing the first nine holes with a score of five under. The Malaga native reveals that this has been the trend all year. “I feel like I’ve played well, the swing was good, I’ve seen myself very well in the tournaments, but the results haven’t quite matched. That’s how this sport is, nothing that should surprise us.” That’s one of the reasons she decided not to play the school. She feels good and is convinced she can save the card with the tournaments she gets with her conditional card.
– From local to local, and I move because it’s my turn. We would all be surprised to label Shannon Tan as a local player. However, she’s not far off. How eager is the Singaporean to win the order of merit of the Ladies European Tour? Take note: she came straight from China to Málaga without going home… And that was right next door. She’s been at Guadalhorce since last Tuesday, playing a minimum of 18 holes every day, sometimes even more, and spending an hour and a half on the putting green. Yes, every day. So, do we consider her a local?
– The duel for the order of merit between Shannon Tan and Mimi Rhodes ended in a technical tie, which favours the Singapore golfer, who is ahead in the ranking. Both scored -1. However, watch out for Rhodes’ round. Her card was absolutely conditioned by the result of nine strokes (quadruple bogey) she made on the 12th. She suffered a terrible short circuit on the edge of the green. It looked like Tin Cup. Every approach she made came back to her feet. A drama. Still, you have to turn it around. With a hole of that calibre, she scored one under. If she hadn’t had that accident, she would have finished as the leader or near the top. You have to count on her.
– And speaking of locals, Rhodes, raised in La Cañada, Guadiaro, is in a way, another who has been seen at Guadalhorce is Miguel Ángel Jiménez. The Malaga native is great. After his fantastic season on the PGA Tour Champions, he stopped by to see the girls, as he almost always does when he can. Kudos to Miguel. He followed Azahara’s match and they shared a big hug. “I thank Miguel because he’s a star. He always comes to see us. It makes me very happy, although I admit that when I see him, I get a bit nervous,” she said with a laugh.
– A round of applause also for the first round of Harang Lee (-2) at Guadalhorce. The Cantabrian, who has professional Javier Sainz on the bag, put on an iron exhibition. “Never in my life have I seen so many consecutive arrows in a round,” confessed Sainz. The driver is still not quite right, but her game continues to progress. She’s on the verge of making a big hit.
– Speaking of the driver, a bad day for Paula Martín (+3). The Madrid native struggled a lot from the tee. She found it hard to hit the fairway and often played from out of position. Additionally, with the irons, she didn’t quite adjust the distances, falling short on occasions, like on holes 5 and 8, which are almost death sentences.
