PHOTO: Carlota Ciganda Romps to Victory in China

Carlota Ciganda made a memorable first visit to China by notching her second title on the Ladies European Tour with a wire-to-wire victory at the Suzhou Taihu Open.

The 22-year-old LET rookie from Spain, who claimed her maiden win in Holland this June, yet again displayed her extraordinary talent by firing a bogey-free course record eight under par 64 in warm and hazy conditions at Suzhou Taihu International Golf Club.

She romped to a seven stroke victory with a tournament record 17 under par in the 54-hole event, going one stroke better than world no.1 Yani Tseng the previous year.

Ciganda seemed to be enjoying her status as the LET’s ISPS Handa order of merit leader and said it was the best golf she had ever played over three rounds. “I was just thinking about playing my game, having fun, and I liked the course from the beginning. I was playing good, I was confident and I think it’s one of those weeks that everything goes right and I was lucky. I was making putts, hitting to the fairway, hitting lots of greens and then Javi, my caddie, did a great job. He was very good with the shots. I think it was everything,” said Ciganda, who began the final round two strokes clear of Germany’s Caroline Masson after opening with rounds of 65 and 70.

Looking totally at ease, Ciganda continued her solid play on Sunday by opening with two birdies and picked up another on the par-five fifth, where she made two putts from the front of the green. She added a fourth birdie at the sixth hole, making an eight-foot putt to move six clear of Masson.

Ciganda then made three further birdies on 11, 14 and 15 before signing off with an impressive birdie on the 451-yard par five 18th hole. She her driver over the water hazard, struck a four-iron to 40 feet short of the flag and tapped her second putt in.

“This week I was very relaxed because I was trying to play my game, to go shot by shot and just thinking about my own game and not thinking about the others, because you can’t control what the others do so just try to have fun. I really like it here and I love golf so it was just one more day of golf,” she said, adding that she would celebrate by having dinner in the luxurious Taihu Golf Hotel with her caddie.