At the start of Friday’s play, Azahara Muñoz was five-over-par after an opening round 77. With the cut looking around +2, the Spaniard knew a special round was needed to make it through to the weekend – and that is exactly what she delivered.
Her 6-under-par 66 was 11 strokes lower and the best score of the day, only bettered by Minjee Lee’s 65 on Thursday, but Muñoz didn’t really feel like anything had changed. “I didn’t play that badly yesterday. It just added up with the putts not dropping.”
During her second round, she hit 16 greens in regulation and was accurate off the tee. “I’ve not been in trouble,” Muñoz said, on her bogey free round. Her widest tee shots only made the first cut.
The former Arizona State player faced difficult conditions during her first round. “It’s the British, you expect rain and wind,” she laughed. Muñoz is well aware of the unpredictability of the weather in these parts as she has played in the British Isles on many occasions, with great success.
In 2004, she made the trip to Scotland for the British Girls Open Amateur Championship at Lanark Golf Club. Just 16 at the time, Muñoz left victorious after a 4&2 victory in the final before falling at the last hurdle when attempting to defend the title the year after. In 2009, a trip to Royal St David’s would again result in a triumph, as a 2&1 win over compatriot Carlota Ciganda added the British Ladies Open Amateur Championship to Muñoz’s impressive collection of prestigious amateur titles.
On the 1st September that year, Muñoz turned professional and soon received a sponsors’ invite to the Madrid Ladies Masters. The Spanish player’s success continued with a play-off victory over Anna Nordqvist, who had been her opponent in the 2005 British Girls Open Final, thanks to an eagle on the first play-off hole.
To date, Muñoz has won a further five professional events. The latest of which was a two shot victory in the 2017 Andalucía Costa Del Sol Open De España. Soon after this victory, Muñoz started to become concerned by her regular feelings of exhaustion and unexplained hair loss so decided to visit a dermatologist whilst back home. The Solheim Cup star was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an auto-immune condition that affects the thyroid. The battle to find the right balance in the treatment affected Muñoz’ game for a while but the Spaniard is feeling back to herself now.
“Once I talked about it, I was already feeling better,” said Muñoz. Her cousin has also recently been diagnosed with the disease and so Muñoz hoped to increase awareness of Hashimoto’s though speaking out. “Not many people know about it so I wanted more people to.”
Muñoz has always been a fighter, which allowed her to overcome the fatigue symptomatic of Hashimoto’s disease to win her home championship. Her bounce back 66 today optimises what the Spaniard is all about. She is just happy to be playing and excited for what this weekend will bring.
