The disappointment of the final day of the Chevron Championship has already been digested and expelled. Such is this relentless circus of professional golf. There is no time to lick one’s wounds. Carlota Ciganda (-7), five days after a Sunday where things didn’t quite go her way in her fight to win the first Major of the year, has bounced back in a big way. The Navarrese golfer has delivered a scorecard of 65 strokes in the first round of the Black Desert Championship and has once again put herself in contention for victory.
Carlota has displayed high-flying play in this LPGA Tour event held in Utah, which offers three million dollars in prizes. She has only missed one fairway in 18 holes and barely missed two greens. She made seven birdies without a mistake and is in fourth place, two strokes behind the leader Haeran Ryu (-9). And when it comes to digesting disappointments, the Black Desert is like an accelerated master’s course. Haeran Ryu started Sunday as the leader in the Chevron, and Ariya Jutanugarn (-7), also in the top, let the victory slip away with a bogey on the last hole. There’s no better way to get over a setback than with birdies.
Carlota is not the only Spaniard who has started off on the right foot in Utah. The Malaga-born Azahara Muñoz (-5) has recorded her second-best result of the season and shows an upward trend in her game. Her last seven rounds of golf have been under 72 strokes. She is consistent. This Thursday, she showed great consistency from tee to green and regained her best feelings with the putter. She is in 16th position, just one stroke away from the top 10.
Julia López (-2) has also started the tournament under par and is within the provisional cut, set at -1. The powerful Malaga golfer had a much more eventful round than Carlota and Azahara. She made five birdies but also committed a bogey and a double bogey. Lastly, it was a day to forget for Fátima Fernández Cano (+9). The Galician wasn’t bad off the tee, but the irons and, above all, the putter condemned her.
