Spain’s Marta Munoz Jimenez fired the best round of her career, 64 (-8) to lead the Santander Golf Tour-Avila after day one to the delight of the home crowd.
12 years ago, Munoz Jimenez dreamt of playing in a professional tournament at her home course when she was undergoing a brain tumour, but she could not have dreamt of a better start.
The 34-year-old started strong with a birdie and a hole-in-one within her first three holes before firing another three birdies on holes five, six and nine.
At the turn, the local legend kept up the momentum to card another three birdies and one dropped shot on hole 14 was her only flaw of the day.
“I’m excited now. I think I was concentrating well. Playing at home is lovely. I know the course so well and on the greens it is easier. I don’t have to think a lot.
“I didn’t see the hole-in-one until we approached the green, it was nice to have a hole-in-one on a new hole as I’ve had them on sixteen before.”
Munoz Jimenez has her 69th start on tour this week with her previous best tournament round to date being a 71.
“I’ve still not registered that I’ve shot my best tournament round to date. Everything hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Munoz Jimenez has her father on the bag this week, a novelty for her, and plenty of other family, friends and locals supporting her.
“It adds some pressure because everyone wants me to play well yet I’m focussing on having a fun time.”
Danish amateur Cecilie Leth-Nissen also shot a phenomenal round of six-under-par, 66 to finish two strokes behind the Spaniard.
It was an almost flawless round for the Dane who carded 10 pars, seven birdies and one bogey to set herself up towards the top end of the leaderboard.
“Today went well, it was fun just hitting good shots all day. I had some really good approach shots and then my putting was strong.
“I’ve played well the last couple of weeks, so I felt strong coming into the tournament in Spain.”
Leth-Nissen played on LETAS last season but is yet to turn professional as the Dane is keen to partake in the team amateur events this summer, in particular the European Team Championships held in Spain in two weeks.
“This is a good test of my game before those big amateur events, tomorrow I want to keep having the same flow and stick to my game plan.”
Leth-Nissen who won the Smorum Ladies Open in 2022 has relished having her younger sister professional golfer Amalie around on LETAS this year.
“This season has been nice playing with my sister, to always have somebody to travel with. It always feels a bit like home wherever we go so that’s nice.”
After Leth-Nissen the field is tightly packed with four players sat in tied third on five-under-par; Japan’s Maho Hayakawa who secured the second hole-in-one of the day, Italy’s Marta Spiazzi, Netherland’s Nikki Hofstede who finished second last week and Swedish star Kajsa Arwefjall.
Seven players sit in eighth on four-under-par; Norway’s Karoline Lund, Iceland’s Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir, South Africa’s Lejan Lewthwaite, France’s Charlotte Liautier, England’s Billie-Jo Smith and Megan Dennis as well as Sweden’s Linn Wiberg.
For players in the afternoon, play was suspended at 17:02 local time and resumed at 17:50.
Round two begins at 7:45am local time and following play there will be a cut to the top 45 professionals and ties.
Follow all the action throughout the tournament on the LETAS social media channels – @letaccess on Instagram, X, and Ladies European Tour Access Series on Facebook – #RaiseOurGame #Access2Let #SantanderGolfTour.
