Agathe and Ariane, still on the cards last December…

Four months ago, Agathe Sauzon and Ariane Provot were not yet sure of being able to play on the Ladies European Tour in 2017. The two friends were playing European cards in Marrakech, during the traditional Lalla Aïcha Tour School Final of December in Morocco. Agathe for the second time. Ariane for the fourth time. Difficulty for young players to keep their cards on the circuit year after year ... Nothing is certain for this new 2017 season, but with their performances in the Lalla Meryem Cup which has just ended in Rabat, and if they continue on this path, Miss Sauzon and Provot should be able to avoid returning to Marrakech next December. In a tournament won by the young Czech Klara Spilkova (-8) in front of the great Norwegian favorite Suzann Pettersen (2nd to -7) and the Englishwoman Annabel Dimmock (3rd to -6), Agathe Sauzon even offers the first top 10 of his career on the LET (8th to -1) while Ariane Provot slipped into the top 15 (14th to +1), thus ahead of the other four Frenchwomen who had passed the cut: Gwladys Nocera (21st to +3), Anaëlle Carnet (44th to +7), Sophie Giquel-Bettan (48th to +8) and Isabelle Boineau (50th to +9).

Chemical engineer, Bachelor of Chattanooga University

It's a good start for the Sauzon-Provot duo. And the pleasure of the two players to congratulate each other this Sunday at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat was obvious. Regarding Agathe Sauzon, this top 10 is a big first. Last year, during her first season as a professional, the Drômoise had to wait for her 8th tournament, on October 29, 2016 at the Sanya Ladies Open (China), to finally pass the cut and sign a 28th row. Always his best mark on LET before this 8th place in Rabat… "That said, explains Agathe, I learned a lot from such a period, even when I couldn't play on weekends. The proof in this Lalla Meryem Cup where the graduate of the American University of Chattanooga (a Bachelor Engineer in Chemistry obtained in 2015 and who extended the first two years of study in an IUT in France) was able to manage the hazards day after day. After cards of 72, 70 and 74, it was with a pretty 71 that the most eminent player of the Golf des Chanalets finished her Sunday. Taking in several long putts of 6 or 7 meters and three putts of more than 4 meters (27 putts only for this last round), she compensated for a double bogey at n ° 6 by five birdies on 2, 7, 9, 11 and 13 : “I'm very happy with this first top 10. It makes you want to work even more! "

Sincere thanks to their respective coaches

It is with Édouard Brechignac, head of the France Dames Cluster, but also responsible for monitoring four other young pros (Justine Dreher, Alexandra Bonetti, Camille Chevalier, Anaïs Meyssonnier) that Agathe Sauzon is looking for new paths of development from the start of the year 2016. “We did a good job. Especially so that I go from a bland game to a more draw game, which will give me better ball touch and more distance. Édouard finds that I am progressing fairly quickly ”… The same thanks to her coach on the side of Ariane Provot after her beautiful place of 14th, this Sunday in Morocco: “I have now been working for two and a half years with Pierre-Jean Cassagne. The fact that he was there for this tournament helped me a lot. He sees absolutely everything. We had very good debriefings all week. And although I put a little pressure on myself in the second round (card of 77 after the pretty 70 of the first round), I knew how to hang on, stay super patient… Until this birdie that I managed at 18 to finish on a card of 69. This 14th place, it is a very good result for my first tournament of the year on the LET! "

Klara Spilkova, first Czech winner on the LET

From the very good result to the excellent performance, there is only one step. That the 22-year-old Czech girl Klara Spilkova cheerfully crossed this April 16 at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam. With a final card of 66 (the best of the week, tied with the Englishwoman Georgia Hall, 4th to -4), Spilkova scored the feat. That of beating on the wire the great Norwegian favorite Suzann Pettersen (-8 against-7). And that of becoming the first Czech winner of a European Women's Tour tournament. " I am so happy ! It's crazy ! " she exclaimed, evoking her model: the Slovak Zuzana Kamasova. In 2011, the year when little Klara Spilkova, 16, made her rookie debut on the circuit, Kamasova won the Lalla Meryem Cup in Agadir, becoming the first golfer in Eastern Europe to win a European title. For Spilkova, the check for 67 euros is timely, for its first LET tournament this season. Like many players obliged to be reasonable, she did not go to Australia and China for the first two stages of 500. Rather going to Terre Blanche, in early April, to finish 2017th in the LETAS event (4nd European series) won by Valentine Derrey. “I haven't played golf for two months. I just worked to put my head in place. ” It worked, it seems!

By Nathalie Vion, in Rabat