– Smilla Tarning Soenderby (-6) and Trichat Cheenglab (-6) are the early leaders of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España which kicked off this Thursday at the Real Guadalhorce Golf Club. Neither of them was a favourite, but both have pedigree. Soenderby, a 25-year-old Dane with the look of a Brondby playmaker, already has a victory on the LET. She achieved it in 2023, in Ireland, a great tournament, when she was only 23 years old. In 2025 she hasn’t won, nor has she come close, but she has finished eleven times in the top 25. A hammer of solidity. Meanwhile, Cheenglab, in case anyone doesn’t remember, won the LET Order of Merit in 2023, when the final was held at Las Brisas. Their names weren’t in the predictions, but they can put up a fight.
– Luna Sobrón (-5) is the best Spaniard. She delivered a great card of 67 strokes and placed herself in third position, tied with Celine Herbin (-5), another regular in the top areas of tournaments, especially when playing in Spain, her adopted homeland. Shortly after signing the card, Luna admitted that she felt nervous on the 1st tee, to the point of confessing to Álvaro Alonso, her caddie and partner. “Álvaro, I need you to tell me something because I feel very nervous…”
There, Álvaro, who comes from fighting every week for the DP World Tour card with Alfredo García Heredia, a player who is the last to get nervous, drew on his rank and experience and calmed her instantly. “It’s normal to be nervous, everyone is nervous. It’s logical.” “Maybe, but I don’t see these two nervous,” she replied. (Referring to her playing partners: Kajsa Arwefjall and Perrine Delacour). “Well, they are, I assure you,” he said firmly.
Those words, although they may seem simple, lowered Luna’s heart rate. They allowed her to land and relax. She made two good pars on holes 1 and 2 and started to fly: birdies on holes 3, 4, 7, 9, and 12. She closed her round with two very meritorious pars on holes 15, the only green she didn’t hit, and 17, where she left herself a terrifying putt from the high right side and managed to sink a return putt of just over two metres.
On the 15th, they had an impossible approach from the left and made a wise decision. There were two options: a low approach against a patch of rough to then roll towards the right and try to leave it close to the flag or give up on the flag and aim right, leaving a long par putt. They did the latter and were rewarded. She holed it from the fringe, about five metres from the hole. “Anything on the green is fine, we’ll give ourselves a chance and do what we can,” was Álvaro’s fine advice. The first option was a heroic shot that could have ended much worse.
Those putts on 15 and 17 are also a good summary of Luna’s round. She was exceptional on the greens. It’s no coincidence. “I worked a lot on my putting last week and I feel more confident when I’m with Álvaro. We both know I have a good feeling and we’ve decided to mix the Aim Point method (of which Álvaro is recognised as one of the world’s leading experts) with my instincts. In fact, I no longer put a line on the ball to aim, he tells me the percentage, I trust my instinct, and it’s worked very well,” she explains to Ten Golf.
Luna has had a very complete season on the LET. It’s true she hasn’t won yet, but she knows it’s only a matter of time. “Someday the coin will fall on my side,” she says confidently. It’s the same conviction she uses when talking about the LPGA Tour, a circuit where she has been before and didn’t do well. “You have to be in a good headspace to go to the LPGA and maybe I wasn’t at my best, plus I had a back injury. Now I know I’m ready to compete in the United States with the best. Next year I’m playing the American School no matter what, and the goal is to be there in 2027,” she assures without blinking.
However, don’t rule out that plans might change. For that, many things have to happen, of course. The first is to win the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España, the second is for the rest of the necessary results to happen so she finishes in the top ten of the ranking and receives an exemption to play the final of the School, and the third is to get the card in that final. Many things. Very difficult. But the first is already on track.
– Marta Martín (-4) has placed herself in fifth position with a card of 68 strokes. She has Íñigo Urquizu on the bag, another one whose experience spills from his pockets. By the way, if nothing goes wrong, and nothing suggests it will, next year she should be in LIV Golf with Luis Masaveu. Marta’s round had a turning point. It was the 4th hole. She was already doing well, with a three-under partial, but she made a magnificent eagle… with a story. She hit a drive, one of those where the caddie and player lose sight of the ball because it was straight as a candle. So much so that they lost sight of the ball as it crashed into a high-voltage cable and fell straight to the ground.
They were lucky that player Marta Sanz, who was with her in the match, and Irene, a cousin of Urquizu who was in the crowd, saw the impact and alerted them to it. As the rules dictate, she was able to repeat the shot and… nailed it again, this time without hitting the cable. “Luckily they saw it because if we had reached the ball and saw it was 180 metres from the tee, we wouldn’t have believed it, but of course, we hadn’t seen it. It took 30-40 metres off and the eagle would have been more difficult,” confesses Íñigo. Marta hit a 5-iron for her second shot, left it 10 metres away, and made the putt to go -5. She finished with a bogey on the 9th for that -4 finish.
– The third Spaniard in the top 10 is, of course, Carlota Ciganda (-3). The Navarrese didn’t start well. On the 1st hole, she hit a very strange second shot. The ball hit a tree from the fairway and ended up making a bogey. If there’s one thing the Navarrese has right now, it’s patience. She kept at it, chipping away, trusting her golf, knowing the birdies would come. And they did. Four birdies and three under. A bid on the table.
