Salto felt confortable in Guadalmina

Spain’s Alvaro Salto (c) Agathe Séron

Spain’s Alvaro Salto, took lead after opening round in Alps de Andalucia thanks to a 6 under par card 66. France’s Clément Berardo had a nice first round as well with 67, one shot behind and a group of 4 players are one further stroke back.

Salto, who is now National coach, had a good week in Madrid during Open Peugeot last June when he was playing on his home course but he still managed to shoot low to day to take advantage over the competitive field in Andalucia.

“It’s been a great round. I had a slow start, birdied the 12 and bogeyed the 14th but I managed to hole 2 good putts on 17th and a great putt on 18th for birdies to finish the front 9 at 2 under. Back 9 I played fantastic, even though I left some more good putts out there. I would highlight the eagle on 7th hole, even though is played short it has a very complicated green and it is difficult to hole the putts. I holed a really good 5 meters putt on steep.

I was very excited to play Guadalmina for many reasons. I had never played here before and I was looking forward to it, I came here with the ladies for the Spanish Amateur Championship and got good feelings about it, and then is designed by the same architect as my golf course, the great Javier Arana, and his golf courses are always a challenge to play. The course has some things that remind me my golf course, Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, some shots, the way to manage some holes is the same, and I have enjoyed it very much”.

Clément Berardo is currently in Top 6 of the Alps Tour ranking meaning he is about to get an exemption for Stage 1 of European Tour Q School but he needs to confirm this ranking as four or five players are close to him.

“I played really well, just missed 3 greens. Starting with 3 putts on the 3rd hole I managed to recover well for a great round with 7 birdies and another bogey. This is not the type of course I normally feel comfortable in, I prefer wider courses but maybe I have to change my mind!

I am recovering from a bad period when I missed 3 cuts in a row. I set up some goals at that time and I think that was a mistake. I have no goals now and thing are getting better, I concentrate shot by shot, and my game is going back for good scores”.

Agathe Séron and Carmela Fernandez Piera