The Armada has faced both sides of golf head-on at the start of the ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. Carlota Ciganda (-4) is fifth in the tournament after the first 18 holes in Belleair, while Azahara Muñoz (+4) is at the bottom of the leaderboard after a round of 74 strokes.
The two Spaniards arrive at the last regular tournament of the LPGA calendar with considerable urgency. The Navarrese because she is outside the top 60 of the year and, therefore, out of the CME Tour Championship that closes the year, and the Andalusian because she is beyond the 100th position in the Race that sets the limit for players who retain their card on the LPGA.
At the start of the event, things have gone well for Ciganda. Since 2014, she hasn’t missed her appointment with the last event of the year and wants to extend the streak. A very solid round in which she was especially sharp from the tee. She barely missed a fairway all day.
The Navarrese started like a shot on the 10th hole. Birdie at the start and four more in the first nine holes. She was close to the lead. The second round saw the streak halted with a bogey on her eleventh flag of the day, adding seven consecutive pars to close the day four under par.
Carlota is in 63rd place in the Race and needs to finish in 22nd place to have any mathematical chance. However, anything close to the tournament’s top ten will secure her spot beyond any possible combinations. After the first 18 holes, she is tied for fifth and is fully involved in the year’s grand finale.
For Aza, on the other hand, the goal of retaining the card has become very difficult. Difficult, but not impossible. She needs to fly very low in the remaining three rounds. This Friday, she will need to play exceptional golf to make the cut. After the round of 74 strokes, she will head to the course four strokes over the total PAR, which currently marks the cut line.
The Andalusian player has already made comebacks of this style this season. At the Paris Olympic Games, she started with a very high round of 78 strokes and in the remaining 54 holes, she played exceptional golf and finished just outside the top ten of the Paris event. However, there is no safety net now, the margin is gone. She needs to reach a top ten to jump from 112th place to being one of the top hundred of the year, but right now all efforts are focused on making the cut. There will be time to look upwards later.
Two fateful holes have significantly affected the Spaniard’s round. She started with a painful double bogey on the 10th hole at Belleair and stumbled again on the sixth flag. Aza doesn’t give up easily; you have to knock her down many times if you want to leave her on the ropes. She added two birdies that left her one over the course when the bitterest moment of the day arrived. A triple bogey on her eleventh hole, a hard blow difficult to assimilate, but she didn’t let herself be swept away by the current and the Andalusian managed to hold on in the final stretch with six holes at par. Four over par at the end of the round.
Jiwon Jeon (-6) and Charley Hull (-6) will sleep as leaders after the first day. The Englishwoman regained the path to victory two weeks ago after two years without winning and seems to have popped the champagne. She is not satisfied and wants more. However, her last victory on the North American circuit dates back 26 months, and Charley wants to make amends.
Other big names that have started strongly this week include, tied with Carlota at -4, the World Number One, Nelly Korda (-4), Maja Stark, Minjee Lee, Cheyenne Knight, and Celine Borge. One stroke ahead are Gemma Dryburgh and Mi Hyang Lee (-5), just one off the tournament lead.
