Julie Aimé took home her first win as a professional in the Gecko Tour at the Westin La Quinta, in the heart of Marbella, with a total score of 138 shots.
Aimé surprised us all, coming from behind, with an extraordinary second round. The French golfer made three birdies on the last five holes, leaving her opponents without a chance. “I played a really solid game these past two days and today I made some really important putts, mostly on the 16th and 17th holes. It’s my first win as a professional, so I couldn’t be happier”, assures the blissful golfer just after singing her card.
Aimé’s victory is only the second win by a female golfer in the history of the Gecko and it happened just one month after Noemí Jiménez at Atalaya. The women are coming in full force and making their way through to the top. The course isn’t precisely an easy one for women’s golfers either. It’s true that they don’t tee-off from the same place, but the distances have been cut back quite a bit in the past few tournaments. “The course was pretty long for us. There were a lot of driver and 3 wood par 4s, so I’m even more content to have won under these circumstances”, Julie explained.
Aimé was born in Nice 25 years ago and studied political science at Lamar University in the US. She was able to balance out her studies with training for golf’s elite there. Her short-term objective is to play in the Ladies European Tour. This year, she has the LET Access card after landing eleventh place in a LETAS tournament held in Spain, in La Peñaza. “My main goal this year is the finish in the top 5 in the LETAS order of merit and thus, to earn the first division card of European golf”, she affirms.
Aimé headed a unique sort of French Revolution in the Gecko. She came to play in a few tournaments with the objective of training for the LET Access season. The idea to play in the best winter tour in Europe came from a good friend of hers: Camille Chevalier. “She told me that we could come play together, and that it was a really well-organized tour, with good courses and good weather”. Her initiative couldn’t have turned out better. And apart from Aimé’s win, Chevalier finished in second place, three shots away from her friend and colleague. Luke Johnson, Mike Bedford and Ryan Fricker also tied for second place. No one else managed to tackle the demanding La Quinta course.
The next Gecko tournament, the last before the grand finale at Finca Cortesín, will be held Monday and Tuesday of next week at Calanova Golf Club.
