Blanca Fernández (-8) dazzles once again. The Madrid player continues to dispel the myth that the first season on a tour, in this case the Ladies European Tour, is for adaptation, taking it slowly, and getting to know the environment. It seems that these intermediate steps are not entirely necessary for her.
This Friday, in the second round of the Ford Women’s NSW Open, she recorded the best round of her short career on the tour. Just four tournaments, but a great scorecard of 65 almost flawless strokes. Seven birdies and one bogey allow her to climb the leaderboard and face the moving day in fourth position, four strokes behind the leader Mimi Rhodes (-12). The English rookie has set the course record with a round of 62 strokes.
The reality is that every week Blanca leaves flashes, bursts of high quality. In her professional debut at La Sella, she flirted with the lead in the first two rounds, in the Final of the School she gave a recital, and only a ‘weak’ finish with the card already secured made her finish sixth. At the start of the season in Morocco, she finished two strokes off the top ten, and last week she started the event among the top twenty. It’s true that these aren’t great final results, but it’s only four events, and in each one, she somehow leaves her mark. She doesn’t go unnoticed, nor are there major setbacks, which would be logical for a player who has been professional for just eight months. Flash by flash.
At the beginning of the week, she admitted that links are not her favourite courses, but if the conditions were right, she could achieve a good result. “I feel comfortable and am getting to know the course better. It’s the first time I play a links as a professional. I hope it goes well,” she confessed. So far, so good.
The key to the day is clear. Wollongong Golf Club, par 71, has five par fives and six par threes. The Madrid player has managed to capitalise on each of the five long holes on the course. Five par fives? As many birdies. Blanca’s long game has paid off, and she acknowledges that she is adapting very well to the bounces of the course and trying to understand them little by little. “I played the par fives very well, to be honest. I hit the drive strong and straight, which opened up many possibilities for me,” she acknowledged at the end. What more could you ask for? One rocket after another has allowed her to fully exploit the par fives.
Within the top ten is also Nuria Iturrioz (-6). The Balearic player has lost some ground after starting as the leader in the first round. With a round at par for the course, she remains within the top ten but will need to take advantage of the moving day to cut some of the six-stroke difference with the leader. Nuria’s round was going well, three under par for the day, but three bogeys in her last four flags condemned her to lose some ground.
On the other side of the coin, María Hernández (+2) and Luna Sobrón (+5) have bid farewell to the tournament earlier than desired. Two rounds of 74 and 72 have prevented them from climbing the positions they needed, bringing this tortuous Australian tour to an end.
