Luna Sobrón
Spanish amateur Luna Sobrón shot an opening round of 65, 5 under par, to lead by two shots from fellow Spaniard Mireia Prat and England’s Kiran Matharu in the Ribeira Sacra ” Patrimonio de la Humanidad ” International Ladies Open at OCA Augas Santas Balneario Golf & Resort.
Sobrón, the 2014 European Amateur Champion, played conservatively on the challenging Augas Santas layout, using her driver just twice during the round. She commented, “I only took driver on two holes, 11 and 16, so I think I played really intelligently, which talks about the difficulty of the course and if you think a little bit more you can have many different options.”
“I’ve made 26 putts so I putted very well. I made 6 birdies and only one bogey on hole 15, so I think I am in pretty good shape and my game is there. “
The 21-year-old from Mallorca will combine her amateur schedule with LETAS this season, “My main goal this year is to try to play as many amateur events as I can but also as much LET Access events as I can to try to have the Ladies European Tour card via LETAS, so I am happy to start like this”.
Mireia Prat, the winner of this event in 2013 was pleased with her opening round, 67. She commented, “I made three birdies and an eagle on the par 4 second hole, holing a 149 metre shot with my 6 iron so I am pretty happy. I also made two bad tee shots, which cost me two bogeys on number 11 and 13, and these bad shots have made me think to change my strategy for tomorrow out there on these holes because the course is playing a little bit longer than two years ago, as it is quite wet, so let’s see tomorrow”.
Kiran Matharu played very solidly for a bogey free round, with birdies on the 5th, 7th and 11th holes. The 26-year-old from Leeds, who missed the cut in the season opener, the Open Generali de Dinard, will be looking to build on her strong start to this week’s event.
Germany’s Isi Gabsa opened with a 68, 2 under par, to lie in 4th place, with the Netherlands Anne Van Dam and Joyce Chong, and Scotland’s Michelle Thomson a further shot back at one under par.
The players enjoyed perfect playing conditions for the first round, with warm temperatures and very little wind. After tomorrow’s round there will be a cut to the top 40 professionals and ties for the final day.
