Diana Luna (Italy) Many congratulations. It’s wonderful to win but it’s wonderful to win playing as well as you did today.
Yes. I am very happy with the way I played. I hit 18 greens and was always putting. I never had to chip the whole way round so it was a great day for me.
A very important spell around the turn when you had three birdies in four holes and suddenly you had the lead. That was a big turning point, wasn’t it?
I think so. You never know because the last few holes are pretty tricky, especially 17. I just wanted to concentrate and keep it going, keep playing good shots. Your last win was in Tenerife. Were there any moments over the last five years when you wondered whether it was ever going to come?
Honestly, I think at the moment I am playing really, really good and I’m not saying I was expecting that, because you can never expect that, but I was really hoping that because I think I was playing very good and I’m very happy about that.
Was the champagne Italian?I don’t know. I didn’t have the time to check.
Who is your coach now?Roger Damiano in Cannes Mougins. I worked very hard physically and worked on my technique as well, to keep all the fundamentals good and to improve the swing, which helped me a lot on this course. Last year there were a few bunkers that I couldn’t fly with my driver and this year I could fly them easily so actually this year it was like a different course to me.
How much distance have you gained?A lot. I think if you go on the statistics it will be easily 20 metres, which is kind of 30 yards since last year. In Australia I was already doing better but not as good as I’m doing now.
How did you get the extra speed?Working physically and technically of course. When you make a swing you are faster and you can accelerate in the right moment.
Since last month, you have particularly improved. Why?I think after Switzerland, in Switzerland I was already doing really well and its a nice course but its not a course that suits me. In Switzerland I was seeing that I was playing better because of my yardage. I have one iron less now. I am one iron longer. It was very hard for me to get used to that as well because when you change something it’s difficult to get used to it. Then you get better of course.
How long have you been with your coach?I’ve been working with Roger for three years. He is not the kind of person that changes everything. We just tried to work on the basics and get every single thing a little bit better. I didn’t need to work on the swing plane, because my swing plane was already good. I just needed to get my motion better and I think I did.
18 greens in succession – you could teach the men on the European Tour a lot, couldn’t you?This has been a great day. I have been second, third, fourth, fifth for a while the last two years so I really wanted to win this. I said to myself, today you play as you can play and you play your best golf. I did it so I’m very happy. The trophy looks quite heavy…I am doing a lot of training for that.
Sophie Gustafson (Sweden)I had a little bit of trouble finding my rhythm after the fog delay but I came back and made a few birdies towards the end. I couldn’t really get anything going. Diana played very solid and hats off to her. I would have liked to give her a little bit more of a run for her money but it was nice to be out in the last group and be in contention again. I’ll go back to America tomorrow and then I’ll be back in Europe for the Evian Masters.
Florentyna Parker (England)I played three solid rounds and this was a new position for me, to play in the second to last group. I feel that I played very well; very steady.
I think the break was quite good actually. We played a bit and then it was like going in for lunch and then we played again, so it was good. I’ve had a good two weeks so hopefully they keep coming.
Krystle Caithness (Scotland)It was new to me, being in the second last group, a few nerves there and I think next time it happens we’ll know what to expect, the crowds out there and scoreboards, things like that. I think we both realise that we can do it.
