Fatima Fernandez Cano is excited to be back at the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de España presented by Oysho for the first time in three years.
The Spanish star finished in a share of eighth place at the Final Stage of Lalla Aicha Q-School in December 2023 and has played on both the Ladies European Tour (LET) and Epson Tour this season.
Fernandez Cano attended Q-School after having surgery and two trapped nerves in her right arm and wasn’t sure how she would perform in 2024, but it has far exceeded her expectations.
The 29-year-old sits 41st in the LET Order of Merit having secured three top-10 finishes from nine starts this season and spent a large part of the summer on the Epson Tour securing her LPGA Tour card for the 2025 season.
“It feels pretty unreal, honestly, it just happened really fast,” she said. “I was not expecting it. My number one priority was to keep my card over here in the LET and luckily, I was able to do that playing basically half the season.
“Then going back to the US, my goal was to just be able to get to the Final Stage of Q-School, and then somehow, I played really well and I was able to secure my LPGA card.
“It’s a little bit unbelievable still. I still think about it and I was very lucky, just because, I played well at the right times and I’m just very happy.”
This will be a third appearance for Fernandez Cano at the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de España presented by Oysho.
She finished in a share of 32nd place in 2019 and in her last appearance in 2021, she ended the week in outright fourth place.
The Spaniard, who was born in Santiago de Composte, is looking forward to playing in Malaga and having some friends and family watch her.
She explained: “It’s great. One of my goals of the season was to get inside the top 60, top 70, just to be able to come back here and play in Spain.
“I haven’t played here since 2021, it’s always a great time just to play in front of a home crowd and have some people from home. I’m quite far from here, but it’s still fun to have some of my family members and my friends coming down for the week.
“For somebody like me, I’m all over the place and all over the world in different countries, and I spend most of my time over in the US. I’m very lucky to feel like I’ve made that in my second home and to have support over there as well, but it is always so different to come back home and feel the home crowd for sure.”
Fernandez Cano will begin her title challenge at 10 am (local time) from the 10th tee alongside South Africa’s Nicole Garcia and Germany’s Laura Fuenfstueck.
Real Club Guadalhorce Golf is hosting the 72-hole stroke play tournament for the first time from November 28 until December 1 and the Spanish star is excited for the week ahead.
She added: “It’s my first time. I did play nine holes yesterday. I played the back nine, I heard the front nine is a bit different, so I’m just looking forward to playing out here.
“It’s kind of a miracle that we’re playing after all the rain that they’ve had, so they’ve worked really hard to have us out here and I’m very thankful for that.”
Follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #RaiseOurGame #OpenDeEspaña.
