Carlota Ciganda hangs on to win Aramco Team Series for seventh LET win

As Carlota Ciganda retrieved her last putt from the underside of the cup on the Aramco Team Series – Florida, all she might do was smile. After placing a putt that touched each a part of the cup earlier than dropping into the opening, Ciganda might lastly breathe a sigh of reduction. For the ninth time in her skilled profession, she was a champion.

“You get all this excitement and just nerves,” Ciganda stated. “It’s the putt to win the event. I felt nervous. I’m not going to lie. I used to be comfortable to get it down.’’

Ciganda arrived at Trump International wanting to do one thing she’d by no means carried out earlier than: win within the United States. Although the 32-year-old has claimed 9 titles in her profession, the win in Florida was her first within the U.S. — and he or she had to work for each little bit of it.

Coming into the week, Ciganda was removed from in her greatest type. She’d missed back-to-back cuts for the primary time since final summer season and had only one top-10 end all season. Her final win got here almost a yr prior, and her string of outcomes hardly instructed a win was on the horizon. But golf is a humorous sport, 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 stated. “I think there are a lot of good players and a lot of the youngsters are coming very strong.”

The race to the title was not solely a battle towards a few of the prime gamers on the earth, but additionally the brutal circumstances on the course. Just two gamers — Ciganda and runner-up Klara Davidson Spilkova — completed the week below par, and solely six scores higher than 70 had been turned in all week.

Those powerful circumstances turned out to be excellent for Ciganda’s type of play. The gritty Spaniard turned in scores of 72, 69 and 73 to end the week at two below, one shot forward of Spilkova and sufficient to earn her seventh profession LET victory.

“I said to myself be patient and try to give yourself birdie chances,” Ciganda stated. “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.”

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and modifying. Prior to becoming a member of the group at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers newbie and girls’s golf. He could be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.