Spain’s Carlota Ciganda ended a winless drought of more than 8 ½ years with her third career victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic. She birdied the final two holes at Blythefield County Club and won over Lexi Thompson, who also attempted to end a winless period of her own.
The Spaniard went into the final round in a six-way tie for the lead and finished at 5-under 67. It was her fourth round in the 60s that left her at 16-under 272 for the week, just a shot ahead of playing partner Hye-Jin Choi. Ciganda recovered from an early bogey on the 2nd with a string of birdies on the 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th holes. She pulled ahead to top the full leaderboard and cancelled out a bogey on the 13th with a birdie on the par-three 15th. She followed this by hitting to a foot on the par-4 17th and setting up another birdie. She closed with another on the 18th to avoid a playoff with Choi, and cap a long-awaited win.
“It feels amazing, obviously, after all these years,” the 35-year-old said. “I knew I could do it, but obviously once the years keep going and you start getting older you start doubting yourself.”
“For me age is just a number. I don’t feel as fresh as when I was 24, but I still feel I can compete and I can win out here. I love playing. I love Thursday to Sundays. I love competition.”
Ciganda’s last LPGA Tour win came at the 2016 Lorena Ochoa Invitational. This marks her 3rd career title, although she’s won a total of eight times on the Ladies European Tour. Her last victory was in December at the Spanish Women’s Open.
“I love coming here,” she went on to add. “It reminds me of Spain where I’m from in the northern part of the Spain. Very similar. Lots of trees, peaceful. I love the golf course. Five par 5s, you can hit it hard here.”
Choi finished in second at 15-under, and was followed by her fellow South Korean Somi Lee, who finished in third place at 14-under. Thompson shared fourth with France’s Celine Boutier and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen. The 11-time LPGA Tour winner last won in 2019 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. She chases her next victory after her sixth start of the season on a part-time tour schedule.
“It’s my favorite event on the schedule,” Thompson said. “Fans are amazing and come out and support women’s golf and that’s what we want.”
“Not the finish I wanted coming down the stretch there. But coming into the week I wasn’t playing great golf and kind of latched onto something that got me through the week.”
What is the next event?
The next event on the LPGA Tour schedule is the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship taking place between 19-22 June at Frisco, Texas in the U.S.