The Sella Open, the ‘tournament of them’, the competition of one million euros in prizes valued by the players as the best tournament of the LET in 2023, has acquired a vibrant international colour from the outset, conferred by a significant group of foreigners who have forcefully taken the top positions, relegating the Spanish representatives to a, for the moment, secondary role.
Not even the defender of the title in the inaugural edition, Nuria Iturrioz, managed to escape the ruthless attack of the foreign collective that has taken the top positions in the table. The Spanish golfer and her inseparable smile fought to overcome the difficulties, recalling what happened a year ago, when she stayed in the wake before delivering the decisive blow. A round of 71 strokes, weighed down by two untimely double bogeys, allows her to keep her desire to repeat victory intact.
This feeling also emerges in the Madrid native Marta Martín, the best Spaniard on the first day with 69 strokes. “Without playing particularly well, the result is good, so I’m happy,” summarised the one who aspires to the maximum after winning a LET tournament this season.
Another Madrid native with recently acquired professional status also took on a leading role. Blanca Fernández and her patent cheekiness led her to hand in a card of 70 strokes, the second best among the Spaniards, a debut to remember.
At the top of the leaderboard, some of the best representatives of the tournament, such as the Italian Virginia Elena Carta and the German Helen Briem, set the bar very high in the morning group, finishing in the clubhouse with respective cards of 5 under par that immediately became the target pursued by the large group of players who performed in the afternoon.
Virginia Elena Carta made a devastating proposal, a flawless round adorned with 5 birdies spread throughout the course – with special mention for two timely hits on the last two holes – that gave her the role of impregnable.
However, the transalpine golfer enjoyed the solo lead for just over an hour, just until the imposing German Helen Briem and her nearly 1.90 metres height matched her outstanding record. The German, however, used a particularly exciting route, with a round marked by eight birdies and three bogeys to reach the same point as the Italian.
The members of the afternoon peloton made various attempts to assault that shared lead, but their proposals lacked the necessary shine to dislodge the Carta – Briem duo from their privileged watchtower, an invulnerability to which only one player, the Finnish Elina Nummenpaa, gained access.
The Nordic, in fact, broke the barrier of 5 under par on her twelfth hole, when she was on her way to at least tie the course record set by the French Anne-Charlotte Mora with 63 strokes. However, Nummenpaa’s relationship with success ended at that point before staining her card with a bogey on the last hole that forced her to share the honours of leader, which is not a bad thing, with Virginia Elena Carta and Helen Briem.
At the end of the day, the words spoken by the Balearic Luna Sobrón at the end of her round still echoed. She was referring to herself, but her reflection could well be transferred to all the players of The Sella Open. “Patience, calm and tranquillity, a lot of tranquillity, are needed to get to the top,” she said, just what all the participants in this exciting The Sella Open are striving for.
At the microphone
Virginia Elena Carta, 65 strokes, co-leader
“It was a beautiful day, I felt that my game was back to what it has been all year. The most important thing was patience, I think it rewarded me to finish the round with two birdies on the last two holes. I have improved my game with the putt, but it is also due to my long game, very consistent. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Helem Briem, 65 strokes, co-leader
“I don’t see myself as a favourite, it’s only my third professional tournament. I’m a rookie and I’ll see where I end up. I’m just having fun and experimenting, although it was a solid start on a course where the first nine holes and the second nine are very different.”
Marta Martín, 69 strokes, ninth place
“I played relatively well, but with room for improvement. My bad shots were good, so I’m happy to go home. I missed taking advantage of the par 5s, where you can scratch strokes off the course. Many players have made birdies at those points, but I lacked to be higher up. In any case, happy with the result”
Around the green
Free entry during all rounds
The Sella Open is a highly attractive tournament, bringing together a large number of the best players on the Ladies European Tour and is accessible to everyone. Indeed, entry is free during all competition days to witness the spectacle generated by the golfers, a great plan during the three remaining rounds of play to find out the winner of the second edition of the ‘tournament for them’.
Professional debut on the LET of Blanca Fernández and Carla Tejedo
The Spaniards Blanca Fernández and Carla Tejedo have shared the limelight for making their debut in a Ladies European Tour tournament, also in Spain. Both passed the commitment with good marks, especially the Madrid native Blanca Fernández, who with 2 under par distinguished herself as the best Spaniard of the morning shift before Marta Martín, in the afternoon, snatched that honour from her. Blanca Fernández finished in seventeenth place at the end of the first day. Six birdies and four bogeys marked her round, while the Castellón native Carla Tejedo finished with 74 strokes in 79th place. On her card, four birdies neutralised by four bogeys and a double bogey.
Helen Briem, a spectacular burst into professionalism
The German Helen Briem is seen coming, among other things because she is almost 1.90 m tall and stands out for her height among all her tournament colleagues. The most spectacular thing, however, is in her game, surprising in any case considering that she is only 19 years old and has just turned professional. In her amateur stage, she already stood out and contributed, among many other things, to winning the PING Junior Solheim Cup 2023 or the European Team 2024 for her country, Germany. The best, however, was yet to come: in this same season, still as an amateur, in an exciting June, she won three consecutive professional LETAS tournaments, one of them in Spain, specifically at the El Fresnillo course in Ávila, adding a fourth victory just twenty days ago, in England. Now, to top it all off, she has already positioned herself to win at La Sella.
The match of the La Sella players, an additional incentive
Three players closely related to La Sella played together in the inaugural round of the tournament. These are the French Celine Herbin, the German Leticia Ras-Anderica and the Spanish Natasha Fear, who have enjoyed the Alicante course many times, all of them with residences in the vicinity of La Sella. Needless to say, they received the affection of the fans present on the course from the first minute, most of them club members, who declared themselves delighted with the possibility of seeing great golfers playing on their course.
