Julia López (-5) and Carlota Ciganda (-5) have made a strong start at the Mizuho Americas Open of the LPGA. The two Spanish golfers, with rounds of 67 strokes, finish the first round of the tournament at the Liberty National Golf Club within the top 5 of the leaderboard, just three strokes behind the Thai player Jeeno Thitikul (-8), who leads the leaderboard alone after delivering a card of 64 strokes with eight birdies and no mistakes.
The four-time winner on the US circuit, aged 22, hadn’t achieved such a low score to start a tour tournament since the BMW Ladies Championship in 2022. Her success on the greens played a significant role in this record. “I think my putter is working well, much better than during the week of the Chevron. Also, I was lucky with the tee time draw because there was hardly any wind during my turn,” she said after her round.
Two strokes behind the Thai player are the French Celine Boutier (-6) and the South Korean Hye Jin-Choi (-6), while the Spanish players are tied in fourth place with eight other players, including Jennifer Kupcho (-5), Lindy Duncan (-5), Ruixin Liu (-5), Harean Ryu (-5), Pajaree Anannarukarn (-5), Yealimi Noh (-5), and Jenny Bae (-5). The American Nelly Korda (-4), who is defending her title, is four strokes behind the leader in a round where she made a couple of bogeys.
Julia López experienced a Thursday full of emotions. She started with a bogey, quickly reacted with a birdie, added another on the 5th hole, made an eagle on the par-five 6th, and another birdie on the 8th. In the second half of her round, she achieved a couple more birdies and a bogey to position herself. Carlota Ciganda, on the other hand, had a more peaceful day, with six birdies and a single bogey. After her good performance at the Chevron, she arrives in New Jersey ready to fight for victory.
Fátima Fernández Cano (+5), the third Spanish player in the competition, struggled at the start of the tournament with no less than eight bogeys and only three birdies. She found it difficult to hit fairways and missed half of the greens in regulation, so she will need to react this Friday if she wants to continue playing over the weekend in a tournament where, as a major difference from the rest, 24 juniors compete with their own classification in stableford format led by Avery McCrery with 40 points.
