Carlota Ciganda Machiñena (born 1 June 1990) is a professional golfer from Spain who plays on the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour. She won the LET's Order of Merit (money title) in her debut season in 2012, and was also named Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year.
Early life and amateur career Ciganda was born in Pamplona, Spain. She started to play golf aged five, influenced by her father. Her uncle is the former football player and coach José Ángel Ziganda.
She attended college in the United States at Arizona State University from 2008 to 2011, where she majored in Business Administration. Ciganda speaks four languages.
Ciganda enjoyed a successful amateur career, winning the British Ladies Amateur in 2007. She returned to the finals in 2009, but was runner-up to compatriot and ASU teammate Azahara Muñoz. Ciganda won the European Ladies Amateur Championship in 2004 and 2008, and was the Spanish National age group champion from 2000 to 2006. She was a member of Spain's 2006 and 2008 Espirito Santo Trophy teams, finishing second in 2008; 2005 and 2007 European Junior Solheim Cup teams and 2004 and 2006 European Junior Ryder Cup teams. While at Arizona State, she was a member of the Sun Devils' NCAA championship team in 2009 as a freshman, and made conference history as the first to win consecutive Pac-10 Championships in 2009 and 2010; she finished third in 2011.
Ciganda played in a number of professional tournaments as an amateur and first took part in the 2005 Tenerife Ladies Open at age 14. Although on that occasion she did not make the cut, she finished as the best Spanish representative in several professional tournaments, including the 2007 Open De España Femenino, when she finished eighth and the 2008 Tenerife Ladies Open when she was third, three shots behind the winner, Rebecca Hudson.
Professional career In 2011, Ciganda turned professional. She made her debut the following month at the Tenerife Ladies Match Play, an unofficial event on the LET schedule, where she finished second to Becky Brewerton. She competed on the Ladies European Tour Access Series that season, winning the Murcia Ladies Open. In the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament in December 2011 she finished tied 34th, earning Priority List Category 20 for the 2012 LPGA Tour season and went on to finish third at the LET Final Qualifying School tournament later that month to earn full playing rights for the 2012 Ladies European Tour season.
In her first full season on the 2012 Ladies European Tour, Ciganda won the ISPS Handa Order of Merit and was also named Players' Player of the Year, as voted for by the LET members. She played in 19 tournaments, with two victories at the Deloitte Ladies Open and the China Suzhou Taihu Open and had ten additional top-10s finishes. Her efforts won her the LET Rookie of the Year award and she ended the season ranked second on the European Solheim Cup points list with total earnings of €251,289.95.
Ciganda was the ladies' winner of the 2019 AON Risk Reward Challenge, collecting the $1,000,000 prize.
In 2023, at the Evian Championship, Ciganda was disqualified "for signing an incorrect scorecard". She had been issued a two-stroke penalty for slow play on the 9th hole. Afterward, Ciganda appealed the ruling with tournament officials but was denied. Despite this, she turned in her scorecard without adding the two-stroke penalty and was disqualified.
Amateur wins 2004 European Ladies Amateur Championship 2005 Spanish International Ladies Amateur Championship 2006 Spanish International Ladies Amateur Championship 2007 British Ladies Amateur 2008 European Ladies Amateur Championship, Portuguese International Ladies Amateur Championship, French International Ladies Amateur Championship
Professional wins (12) LPGA Tour wins (3) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-upWinner'sshare ($)116 Oct 2016LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship69-70-69-70=278–10Playoff Alison Lee300,000213 Nov 2016Citibanamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational67-72-68-68=275–132 strokes Austin Ernst Jodi Ewart Shadoff Karine Icher Sarah Jane Smith Angela Stanford200,000314 Jun 2025Meijer LPGA Classic69-67-69-67=272–161 stroke Choi Hye-jin450,000 Co-sanctioned by the LPGA of Korea Tour.
LPGA Tour playoff record (1–2) No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result12014CME Group Tour Championship Julieta Granada Lydia KoKo won with par on fourth extra holeGranada eliminated by par on second hole22016Meijer LPGA Classic Kim Sei-youngLost to birdie on first extra hole32016LPGA KEB–Hana Bank Championship Alison LeeWon with birdie on first extra hole
Ladies European Tour (8) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMarginof victoryRunner(s)-up13 Jun 2012Deloitte Ladies Open71-67-69=207–92 strokes Ursula Wikström228 Oct 2012China Suzhou Taihu Open65-70-64=199–177 strokes Caroline Masson32 Jun 2013UniCredit Ladies German Open68-33=101–6Playoff Charley Hull429 Sep 2019Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open72-68-65-71=276−81 stroke Esther Henseleit528 Nov 2021Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De España70-66-70-67=273−114 strokes Maja Stark610 Jul 2022Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open65-67-68-70=270−182 strokes Laura Beveridge721 May 2023Aramco Team Series – Florida72-69-73=214−21 stroke Klára Spilková81 Dec 2024Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De España67-66-66-71=270−181 stroke Manon De Roey
LET playoff record (1–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult12013UniCredit Ladies German Open Charley HullWon with birdie on first extra hole 22017Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open Anna Nordqvist Florentyna ParkerParker won with birdie on fourth extra holeCiganda eliminated by birdie on first hole
LET Access Series (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMarginof victoryRunner-up119 Nov 2011Murcia Ladies Open68-76-70=214–5Playoff Julie Tvede
LET Access Series playoff record (1–0) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult12011Murcia Ladies Open Julie TvedeWon with birdie on sixth extra hole
Results in LPGA majors Results not in chronological order. Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026Chevron ChampionshipT66T61T4T56T60CUTT4T24CUTCUTT126T9T12U.S. Women's OpenT39T57T63CUTCUTT53T22CUTT49T28T20T19CUTCUTWomen's PGA ChampionshipT37T13CUTCUTT20T33T48T3CUTCUTT3CUTT71CUTThe Evian Championship ^ T52CUTT38T17T32T3310NTCUTT3DQCUTCUTCUTWomen's British OpenT52CUTCUTT17CUTT29CUTT31T23T77T51T34CUTCUTT37CUTCUT ^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013
CUT = missed the half-way cut DQ = disqualified NT = no tournament T = tied
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeChevron Championship 0 0 0 2 4 7 14 11U.S. Women's Open 0 0 1 2 2 5 15 10Women's PGA Championship 0 0 2 2 2 4 14 8The Evian Championship 0 0 1 1 2 3 13 7Women's British Open 0 0 0 0 2 4 18 10Totals 0 0 4 7 12 23 74 46 Most consecutive cuts made – 12 (2018 US Open – 2020 PGA) Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2019 Evian – 2019 British Open)
Professional career summary LPGA Tour Year Tournaments played Cuts made Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10s Best finish Earnings($) Money list rank Scoring average Scoringrank2012330000T17 $79,6798573.25n/a2013191301022355,9494071.9849201423180101T2367,2804472.17642015251901032 404,8494271.775120162622210711,116,1991470.5616201722200017T3765,0082470.352120182522021921,244,610870.098201923220118T2998,6541569.9410202012110013T3477,7072070.589202122190002T5329,9446171.1756202224170014T3826,6143370.5829202321170026T31,096,6622370.2010202422170013T3853,5744671.114220252116101511,115,9773771.0049 Official as of 2025 season
Ladies European Tour Year LETwins Earnings(€) Moneylist rank Scoringaverage2012 2251,290170.462013 1173,329570.882014 0140,730570.322015 019,489n/a70.782016 057,266n/a71.362017 0160,798269.412018 0153,09469.31 Official as of 2018 season
World ranking Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
Year Ranking Source 2007 502 2008 504 2009 705 2010 605 2011 291 2012 50 2013 39 2014 46 2015 51 2016 20 2017 20 2018 15 2019 16 2020 15 2021 46 2022 52 2023 29 2024 37 2025 35
Team appearances Amateur
European Lady Junior's Team Championship (representing Spain): 2004 (winners), 2005 European Girls' Team Championship (representing Spain): 2005 Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Spain): 2006, 2008, 2010 Junior Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2005, 2007 (winners) Junior Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners), 2006 (tie, cup retained) European Ladies' Team Championship (representing Spain): 2007 (winners), 2008, 2009, 2010
Professional Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2013 (winners), 2015, 2017, 2019 (winners), 2021 (winners), 2023 (tie, cup retained), 2024, 2026 (winners) International Crown (representing Spain): 2014 (winners)
Solheim Cup record Year Totalmatches TotalW–L–H SinglesW–L–H FoursomesW–L–H FourballsW–L–H Pointswon Points%Career3013–12–5 5–2–1 2–4–1 6–6–3 15.551.7201333–0–01–0–0 def. M. Pressel 4&20–0–02–0–0 won w/ S. Pettersen 1 upwon w/ A. Muñoz 1 up3100.0201541–1–20–0–1 halved w/ L. Thompson1–0–0 won w/ M. Reid 4&30–1–1 halved w/ M. Reidlost w/ A. Muñoz 3&2250.0201741–3–01–0–0 def. B. Lincicome 4&30–1–0 lost w/ C. Masson 1 dn0–2–0 lost w/ E. Pedersen 6&5lost w/ M. Reid 2 dn125.0201951–2–21–0–0 def. D. Kang 1 up0–1–1 halved w/ B. Law lost w/ B. Law 6&50–1–1 halved w/ B. Law lost w/ A. Muñoz 2&1240.0202131–2–00–1–0 lost to B. Altomare 2&10–0–01–1–0 lost w/ S. Popov 1 dn won w/ N. Madsen 1 up133.3202344–0–01–0–0 def. N. Korda 2&11–0–0 won w/ E. Pedersen 2&12–0–0 won w/ L. Grant 4&2 won w/ L. Grant 2&14100.0202441–3–00–1–0 lost to R. Zhang 6&40–2–0 lost w/ L. Grant 3&2lost w/ E. Pedersen 1 dn1–0–0 won w/ E. Pedersen 2&1125.0202631–1–11–0–0 def. J. Kupcho 4&20–0–00–1–1 halved w/ J. Ramirezlost w/ C. Boutier 1 dn1.550.0
References
External links
Arizona State University Athletics – Carlota Ciganda