Carlota Ciganda - © Tristan Jones / LET

Carlota Ciganda was the 2012 Rookie of the Year and the Order of Merit winner of her first home win on the Ladies European Tour and said: “I'm very happy to win in Spain, with everyone here. my family is here and playing in Spain is always very special. It was a tough day and to be honest it was very windy, with a few crazy gusts on the course. I played pretty well and tried to make the fairways, hit the greens and putts a few times. I played the par-5 well, but I knew the others were going to make mistakes, because it was quite difficult. "

“Towards the end, I saw that Esther was 6 or 7 under the par, but I wanted to get to 10: that was my goal for the day. I thought if I hit 10 everything would be fine, but it was hard to get those birdies in the last few holes. The wind was pretty strong, so I was happy to make these races and win the tournament. "

It was her first individual tournament victory in three years, since the 2016 CitiBanamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational which capped a brilliant season, following eight top 10s on the LPGA Tour, including a tie for second place in the Bank of Hope Founders Cup in March.

Carlota Ciganda had the chance to win in Sitges under similar circumstances two years ago, with a short putt on the 18th, but the ball came out, which caused him to lose a play-off, against Florentyna Parker. She admitted the memory came back to her when she found herself facing a similar putt from a distance of about 1m on the 50th and said: "I just told myself not to move my head and do this putt and win the tournament. I don't want to go through another play-off because anything can happen and the putt was successful, so I'm very, very happy. "

The tournament may be sponsored by a beer maker, but after being drenched in water by other golfers, Carlota Ciganda was delighted to sprinkle champagne on her enthusiastic home fans. Suzann Pettersen, Ciganda's Solheim Cup teammate at Gleneagles, tweeted shortly after: "When will this party end?" I'm so happy for you, my friend. "

The 29-year-old from Pamplona started the final round two strokes behind Laura Fuenfstueck but in a way took advantage of Fuenfstueck's bad luck. The 24-year-old German, who had never been in contention before, got off to a baffling start when she doubled the first two holes on a bogey. Although she birdied on the 3 and regained some of the lead when Carlota Ciganda bogeyed the 4, she was unlucky with a bogey on the 5. Another birdie followed on the 7, but it was his last of the day. She doubled on the 10th and came home with a final round of 79, tied with Christine Wolf and Ursula Wikstrom for fourth place.

Carlota Ciganda birdied on the 6th and 7th holes and took a two-stroke lead at the start of the return 9 before young German Esther Henseleit broke into a birdie rampage. From 2 to 6, she birdied 5 of the next 7 holes, but finished with 5 consecutive pars for a score of 68. Ciganda bogeyed on 11, but immediately bounced back with a birdie on 12. She bogeyed the 13th but no one was able to catch her.

"It was a difficult start, but I came back very strong"said Henseleit, who has advanced in both the Order of Merit and LET's Rookie of the Year ranking. “In the end it wasn't enough, but I played well. I had my chance on the last few holes but I couldn't do them. "

Sanna Nuutinen, who played in the last group, scored 73 to finish third with 3 under par. Whitney Hillier, who made international headlines with his hole-in-one on Friday, finished seventh solo, with Aditi Ashok eighth, Marianne Skarpnord ninth and five other players tied for tenth.

LET's next tournament is the Hero Women's Indian Open, which kicks off Thursday at DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurugram. In the meantime, Ciganda has confided that she would like to party with her extended family in Spain.

The two best French, Derrey and Chevalier, 26th in Spain

Very solid during the last round (70, -1), Valentine Derrey gained fifteen places to complete her tournament in 26th row alongside Camille Chevalier.

To consult the leaderboard: click here