FORD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KCC

March 28, 2024

Carlota Ciganda

Seville Golf and Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Carlota Ciganda after the first round of the Ford Championship. Tied for the lead at 8-under today. Walk me through your bogey-free round.

CARLOTA CIGANDA: Yeah, very happy. Very good day for me. This afternoon I started very solid with a birdie on 11. I think I hit pretty much every green. I miss on 8 one like three feet from the green, so 17 greens.

And I just, yeah, played very solid. Hit great putts. My speed was very good. So 3-under on the front which was my back, and then played really good the par-5s. Hit it off the tee very good so I have a lot of the wedges to the green.

Yeah, just made, yeah, some good putts. And eight birdies, no bogeys. It's always a great round.

Q. Talk a little bit about your strategy going into the par-5s headed into today.

CARLOTA CIGANDA: I think you can be aggressive. I think the par-5s for me are reachable, so I think I can get at least 2- or 3-under, if not 4- every day, that's a bonus obviously.

Yeah, there are some holes that you hit wedges; got to take advantage of those. Par-3s a little longer. I mean, no wind today. The weather was perfect, so I knew it was very scorable.

Yeah, I just tried to make as many birdies as I could.

Q. And a former ASU player. How much have you enjoyed being back around the area?

CARLOTA CIGANDA: Yeah, Spain is home, but Phoenix it's home away from home. I love being here. I feel the support. Yeah, it just feels very comfortable. I'm staying at home so that's really nice this week. Sleeping in my own bed. Yeah, eating my own dinners and doing my thing. So that's always very comfortable.

Yeah, I love Phoenix. It's always a place that I'm going to come in the future. Yeah, I always feel great when I'm here.

Q. What have you been working on in your game that is maybe coming together so far this season?

CARLOTA CIGANDA: Yeah, I feel I've been -- the start of the year was a little slow. I had a little injury in my neck and shoulder, so I couldn't practice the way I want. I had to take the time off.

The last two, three weeks I've been feeling good again. My coach was in LA and this week, so we've been -- on the swing it's just not as much because I've been with him for almost ten years so very similar things that I work on in the past.

Yeah, just trusting myself. Yeah, just being very present. Have good strategy. Maybe aggressive swings to that target.

Q. How do you stay patient? Obviously a lot going on this year, Olympics, Solheim Cup. When you're having that slow start or dealing with an injury, how do you keep yourself calm, give yourself some grace, and lower the expectations this early on?

CARLOTA CIGANDA: Yeah, it's important to have a good team around you, and I think I have that with my family, coach, caddie.

I mean, we know how golf is. Some weeks you play good and you don't have the result you want and some weeks you don't play as good and you finish better. If you work hard and put the work, at the end of the day the results are going to come.

Yeah, it's being patient and just working hard. I don't think there are any other secrets.