Costa del Sol Open de España - Day Three
Cayetana Fernández (-12), Carlota Ciganda (-11) and Carla Tejedo (-9) were the overnight leader and go out in the penultimate match to try to unseat the leader, Swiss Morgane Metraux (-14).
The amateur Cayetana Fernández amazed everybody yesterday, she was joined by Carla Tejedo, while Carlota Ciganda is not giving up and will fight to repeat last year's triumph.
Cayetana Fernández started the day as the tournament leader, but very soon, on the very first hole, where she made a bogey, it was clear that this day was not going to be the same as yesterday. Cayetana had to hold on to the course and be patient until the birdies came. She explained, "It was a very different game to yesterday, but I fought every shot. The putting wasn't as good as yesterday, the greens were a bit heavy, but I put together a good finish and made a good birdie on the last hole".
That fight puts her in second place, two strokes off the lead, with 18 holes to play tomorrow, something that does not surprise her because "we amateurs are showing that we have a very good level, that in the future there may be more Spanish players of the quality of Carlota and Azahara and that women's golf is becoming increasingly visible".
Carlota Ciganda, joined the Spanish trio after playing "a calmer round" and signing 68 strokes (-5) for a total of 208 (-11), a result that sought throughout the day: "I wanted to reach the two figures under par and with those -11, I can have options for tomorrow. I'll try to push and see if I can win this tournament again".
The other name of the third day was undoubtedly Carla Tejedo. The Valencian player had a "perfect round from tee to green. The drives were pretty straight, the shots to the green were pretty good and that allowed me to make putts. Without all of the above, there are no birdies," she explained.
"Yesterday I played with Cayetana and I thank her because she made me see that I can do it too. She shot a -8 and I'm at -7, but I went for it," said Carla Tejedo as one of the reasons for her 66.
However, the reigning World University Champion is not out of line with her expectations for the final day of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España: "I want to enjoy this experience. I come as an amateur, so I want to savour every last hole, every last shot and do the best I can", although she also sent out a warning: "Let the professionals get ready because we are coming", she concluded with a big smile.