‘Is this how you wanted it? It’s all yours’: How Carlota Ciganda became legendary
Carlota Ciganda soaking it up at Finca Cortesin.
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You couldn’t write this any better. It’d be a helluva story. Legendary, maybe. They put the Solheim Cup in Carlota Ciganda’s native country of Spain for the first time this year. And wouldn’t it be something if she made the European squad?
But let’s go bigger!
Oh, but what if she somehow won a match at Finca Cortesin! Maybe she’d sit the first session. That’s OK. But then pair up with, let’s say, Linn Grant, and give her team a much-needed point.
Nice. Bigger!
And Ciganda wins both of her matches on the second day! She leads the Euros out of the tunnel, teams with Emily Pedersen in the morning, prevails, then her and Grant are last off the tee in the afternoon, and they win again.
Good. But bigger!
Scenes from the 1st hole party seats at the Solheim Cup
While you were sleeping, golf fans in Spain were partying on the Solheim Cup's first tee box. Masters winner José María Olazábal brought out the cup for the fans to see. GOLF's James Colgan takes us behind the scenes of the early morning festivities before the matches began.
The Euros and the Americans are tied entering Sunday. And Ciganda and mega-star Nelly Korda are the second-to-last group off. And Ciganda could win the whole frickin’ thing!
But, but, but … things would get rocky. Ciganda wins, like, the 2nd hole and the 3rd and the 8th to go 3-up, but then Korda storms back, winning, like, the 9th, 10th and 15th to tie it up. That 15th would be wild. We would hear Golf Channel announcer Kay Cockerill say something about Carlota hitting “a cold shank” into the shrubbery. And she double-bogeys.
Bigger!!
On 16, Suzann Pettersen finds Ciganda. Pettersen has a fun story. She won the Solheim Cup four years ago with a dagger — then retired. A walk-off. She’s this year’s captain, though. By now on Sunday, other matches are ending. The math is saying Ciganda could clinch this. Pettersen whispers to Ciganda:
“Is this how you wanted it? It’s all yours.”
Ooh!
Korda then hits to five feet on 16. But Ciganda wedges one to three. She jogs up the fairway. She high-fives her caddie, Alvaro Alonso. She lifts her arms to the crowd. On the green, Korda misses. Ciganda makes. She goes 1-up. More fist-pumping.
Bigger!!!
It’s down to two matches now. The score is 13-all. The Europeans, having won the previous Cup, can keep it if they just tie. (Yeah, that’s a little weird, but let’s continue.) The hole, the 17th, is a 145-yard, par-3. Ciganda takes a 7-iron. She hits.
Solheim Cup Winners and Losers, Day 2: Controversy, coaching style, Carlota
It drops to a yard.
Korda hits to the left of the green. On the walk down, the crowd chants her name, to the tune of the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army: “Car-lo-ta Ci-gan-da, Car-lo-ta Ci-gan-da.” Try it. It’s fun. They eventually quiet. Korda chips on. Her ball grazes the cup. Korda putts. Ciganda is off to the side, watching. Korda makes. She has her par. But Ciganda’s birdie putt seals it.
It drops.
She drops her putter. She thrusts to the crowd. She hugs Alonso. Her teammates come in. They hug. They bounce. They celebrate on the green. Forget that there was still that match behind them. It was over!
“This means so much to her, to win on her home soil and to go 4-0 and to win — you can’t write it better than that.”
Indeed.
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