Patricia Sanz from Spain is well on her way to earning her Ladies European Tour card for 2014 through the LET Access Series.
The 22-year-old from Madrid is ranked second on the LETAS Order of Merit midway through the 2013 season, with six events played and seven more to go.
At the end of the year, the top five players on the ranking will graduate to the top flight LET circuit. Sanz has her eye on the prize and, after contributing to Spain’s gold medal at the European Team Amateur Championship at Fulford last weekend, she made her professional debut at the 2013 Open de España, at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid on 18-21 July, where she missed the cut by two shots.
The former ‘Auburn Tiger’, who studied microbiology at Auburn University in the United States, tied for 22nd in the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco on the LET in March.
She has also recorded a string of impressive results on the 2013 LET Access Series, with her best results second at the Terre Blanche Ladies Open, a tie for second at the Fourqueux Ladies Open, a tie for ninth at the Sölvesborg Ladies Open, a tie for 10th at the Kristianstad Åhus Ladies Open and a tie for 12th at the Ocho Golf Ladies Open.
On the LETAS order of merit, Sanz is only 781.51 points behind top ranked Mirea Prat, also from Spain.
Sanz said: “I am going to continue playing LETAS events and I also have an invitation for the Lacoste Ladies Open de France and I’m going to ask for a few invitations to tournaments. My goal is to get my card for the 2014 Ladies European Tour.”
Sanz described her experiences on the Access Tour and explained why the time was right to turn professional: “I have been thinking about turning pro over the past few months and I told myself I wanted to play in the European Team Championship. Since I’m doing well in the LETAS, I decided to turn pro after winning that tournament. The European Team Championship was really fun but I decided the time was right.
“At the beginning I was a little worried because I didn’t know how it would go, playing in amateur tournaments and on the LETAS and I didn’t know what to expect, but now I’m delighted with it.
“The number of players made the cut is so low so that gives you more pressure to perform better. In general, I think that all players perform better because of that. Also, it gives me the opportunity to play in more competitions, which is good to get experience and even more because the level of golf is very high.”
Her sister, Marta, who is two years younger, also competed in the recent European Amateur Championships. Also a student at Auburn University in the United States, she decided to stay amateur to compete in the Open de España where she just made the cut, on the mark at three-over-par after two rounds.
“She is doing very well and will probably follow me by playing on the LETAS after university and getting experience there and then she will turn professional as well,” Sanz said.
The older sister’s next LETAS tournament is the Ingarö Ladies Open hosted by Elin Emanuelsson in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 25th – 27th 2013.
