Spain’s Carlota Ciganda fired a second round of 66 (-6) to hold the halfway lead at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España.
The four-time LET winner has an excellent record in her national championship – recording seven top ten finishes in the seven she has played – and she continued that on Day Two at Los Naranjos Golf Club.
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Ciganda got off to a great start with two birdies in her opening three holes, before adding another on the seventh to make the turn in 33.
The Spaniard rolled in another birdie on the 10th before an eagle on the 14th propelled her to eight-under-par for the tournament and top spot on the leaderboard.
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“I’m very happy with my day, every time you make no bogeys it’s a great day. I was pretty comfortable out there, I hit some great shots and the putting was hot today, with four bridies and one eagle I’m very happy,” said the Solheim Cup winner.
Ciganda has recently made a change to her putting grip having sought advice from Ryder Cup winner Tommy Fleetwood and it seems to be paying dividends.
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“I’ve been putting like this for the last three weeks now because I thought I needed a change, you’ve got to try different things when the putting isn’t working so I changed grip and it seems to be working and hopefully it keeps working for the next two days,” she explained.
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“He [Fleetwood] told me a couple of things – I really like his stroke and how he moves his putter, so I’ve been watching a lot of videos and I think it’s helping me and it’s the way to go for me going forward.”
There will be two Spaniards in the last group out in the third round with Fatima Fernandez Cano one shot behind the leader and Ciganda is excited at the prospect.
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She added: “It’s great for the Spanish people to have Spanish players up there, I played with Fatima yesterday, she’s a great player and really nice so it’s going to be a nice battle between the two of us.”
After being in a share of the lead overnight, Cano had another solid day on the course carding a round of 68 (-4) to move to seven-under-par.
The 26-year-old rolled in five birdies and one bogey to back up her first round of 69 and be in second place at the halfway stage.
“It feels great, I played really solid today and gave myself a few more birdie chances than yesterday and I missed quite a few coming in, but I can’t complain. Overall, my game feels very solid,” said Cano.
“There’s a little bit of pressure coming home and wanting to do well in front of my people, but in general I’m having a blast, even though I’m a little bit nervous being in the last group.
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“She’s [Ciganda] somebody I’ve looked up to my whole career and she paved the way for people like me to play to continue our way onto the LPGA and compete at the highest level so to play with her is great, it’s like a dream come true to play in the Spanish Open alongside another Spaniard.”
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