British champion Ciganda to join

Arizona State in January 2009

British women's open amateur champion Carlota Ciganda has signed a Letter of Intent to enrol at Arizona State University from the spring 2009 semester onwards, i.e. enrolling in January next year.

Ciganda, picture right by Cal Carson Golf Agency (all rights reserved), is the No 1 female amateur in Europe, and comes from Pamplona, the bull-run city of northern Spain.

She will be 18 years old on June 1 and should be defending the "British" title at North Berwick from June 11 to 15 although there is no indication on the Ladies Golf Union website of her entry for this year's championship.

The fact that one of her best friends, Azahara Munoz, is already at student at Arizona State almost certainly tipped the scales in favour of the Sun Devils who were one of a long queue of American colleges offering her a full golf scholarship.

It is not all that common for a golf student to start in January - although Roseanne Niven did it at the University of California Berkeley - instead of the autumn. It probably underlines Arizona State University coaching staff's feeling that the arrival of such a talented player could be the final piece in the jigsaw for winning the NCAA women's championship - at the end of May - in 2009.

"On the golf course Carlota has an amazing presence and a maturity well beyond her years," said Arizona State head women's golf coach Melissa Luellen.

"She hits the ball a mile and has a terrific touch around the greens."
Ciganda has been the No. 1 ranked female amateur in Europe for the past two years. At the age of 14, she became the youngest player to win the European women's amateur championship.

"Look for her to vie for Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year and to be a first-team All-American," said Luellen. "Of course, she'll have to battle our current Sun Devils for some of those honors, especially her best friend Azahara Munoz."
Last June, at Alwoodley Golf Club, Leeds, Ciganda defeated Arizona State's own All-American Anna Nordqvist in the final of the 2007 British women's open amateur championship.

"The entire team is excited about Carlota joining the team," said Luellen. "With our returning players and our new freshman [Italy's Giulia Molinaro], the Sun Devils will definitely be turning heads."