Cara’s the ‘Gainer’ with birdie-making spree at Open de Espana

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Cara Gainer - TheGolfingHub
Cara Gainer is the early leader at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España. Photo: LET

Cara Gainer fired an opening round of 66 (-7) on Day One of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España at Alferini Golf.

The Englishwoman began her round on the 11th hole and opened with a birdie, she rolled in another on 13 before dropping a shot on 14.

Related: Spain the turf for Linn Grant, Maja Stark’s battle to decide LET’s best

However, Gainer found her stride making four consecutive birdies on holes 16 through to the first and despite another bogey on the third, she made three further birdies to sign for a round of seven-under.

 

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“Overall, I’m really really pleased,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better start. I got it going, I was quite patient, I hit the ball lovely today and holed a few putts.

“It played very different to the practice days. We were having 20mph winds and we really had no wind today and it was a lot warmer. The ball was flying further, we had one or two clubs less in on every hole today which makes it a bit easier to hit it close.

“I would give myself a seven or eight out of ten for the season. It’s trended really nicely since Belgium, that kickstarted the last four or five months. I’ve had some really solid results, but not quite all the way there. It’s nice to get off to a good start this week, still plenty of golf to go.”

Gainer sits one shot ahead of defending champion Carlota Ciganda, who carded a round of six-under 67 on the first day.

 

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It was a slower start for the Spaniard who rolled in birdies on six and eight before making a double bogey on 11 to take herself back to level par for the round.

But she got on a hot streak on the back nine rolling in six consecutive birdies to put herself firmly near the top of the leaderboard.

“I’m pretty happy,” said the six-time LET winner. “After that double bogey, I through three or four-under was a good score today.

 

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“I knew I had those two par-fives to finish so I thought if I could get a couple of birdies before 16 and 17. I started making some good putts on 13 to 18 and with six birdies to finish, I’m obviously very happy.

“I love playing here it’s so nice to see familiar faces, to see family and friends. I love playing in front of them. It’s always special to play in Spain as well, so I’m just happy to be here and finish the year here.”

 

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Four players are shared for third place with Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux, France’s Anais Meyssonnier, Ireland’s Leona Maguire and Sweden’s Linn Grant all on five-under-par.