As Carlota Ciganda retrieved her final putt from the bottom of the cup at the Aramco Team Series – Florida, all she could do was smile. After striking a putt that touched every part of the cup before dropping into the hole, Ciganda could finally breathe a sigh of relief. For the ninth time in her professional career, she was a champion.
“You get all this excitement and just nerves,” Ciganda said. “It’s the putt to win the tournament. I felt nervous. I am not going to lie. I was happy to get it down.’’
Ciganda arrived at Trump International looking to do something she’d never done before: win in the United States. Although the 32-year-old has claimed nine titles in her career, the win in Florida was her first in the U.S. — and she had to work for every bit of it.
Coming into the week, Ciganda was far from in her best form. She’d missed back-to-back cuts for the first time since last summer and had just one top-10 finish all season. Her last win came nearly a year prior, and her string of results hardly suggested a win was on the horizon. But golf is a funny game, and three rounds later, the Spaniard was holding the trophy.
“To win, I think it’s always special. It’s not easy to win nowadays,” Ciganda said. “I think there are a lot of good players and a lot of the youngsters are coming very strong.”
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The race to the title was not only a battle against some of the top players in the world, but also the brutal conditions on the course. Just two players — Ciganda and runner-up Klara Davidson Spilkova — finished the week under par, and only six scores better than 70 were turned in all week.
Those tough conditions turned out to be perfect for Ciganda’s style of play. The gritty Spaniard turned in scores of 72, 69 and 73 to finish the week at two under, one shot ahead of Spilkova and enough to earn her seventh career LET victory.
“I said to myself be patient and try to give yourself birdie chances,” Ciganda said. “I thought not even five or 10 people were going to finish under par just because of the wind and the course. I played really well all three days. My putting was great as well. I’m just very happy to get it done.”