Lauren Walsh arrived at La Sella Golf Resort in Spain for the LET’s La Sella Open riding the crest of a wave. The second-year pro had just finished runner-up at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open – her highest professional finish to date – and was coming to another place where she performed well.
Despite a disappointing opening round of 75 at the 2024 La Sella Open, she shot rounds of 69, 70 and 69 to conclude with on what is one of the tougher courses that the LET visits, and she was understandably bullish about her chances this year.
“I’m really excited, I think this golf course sets up well for me – I drive the ball really well and I think making fairways out here is crucial. It’s your typical Spanish course. It requires everything from your game. It sets up well for me! The weather is great and we have a gorgeous venue so yeah, I’m very happy,” she said on Wednesday, prior to the tournament getting underway on Thursday.
In high winds on the opening afternoon, she battled to a level-par 72, but in calmer conditions on Friday morning, she produced her lowest round to date on La Sella Golf, carding a four-under 68 that catapulted her up the leaderboard and into the provisional top 10.
“Yeah, it was a lot easier than yesterday afternoon,” she conceded afterwards. “A lot less wind today so it was nice to kind of take a little bit of advantage of that. I hit the ball really nicely, missed a couple of short putts for birdie, but overall, I’m really happy.”
“I definitely drove the ball really well, hit a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens and gave myself a lot of birdie looks, which is always important, you know, going on to the next hole knowing there’s new birdie opportunities is always good.”
The La Sella Open offers a $1 million prize purse, which is one of the largest on offer on the regular LET circuit, but, as Walsh explains, along with a golf course that suits your eye, it’s the little things that make a tournament feel special.
“Yeah, it was definitely one of my favorite events last year and I was really excited to come back,” she said. “We’ve been looked after really well this week, you know, the course is in really good condition and the hotel here is so nice. We’ve got access to the spa and everything, so it’s nice to be able to kind of relax when we’re not thinking about golf during the day.”
As one of the early starters on day two, she has the luxury of being able to rest in the comfy confines for the afternoon, safe in the knowledge that she’s through to the weekend and, barring some really impressive scoring in the traditionally tougher afternoon wave, will have a late tee time on Saturday to look forward to.
“I’m gonna have a little bit of lunch, and then I might go back to the spa,” she mused. “Go use a cold plunge, stuff like that, get some recovery in and, then just chill out by the pool, I think.”
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