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 college career

Born in Pamplona, Spain, Ciganda 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.

Amateur career

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

Ciganda turned professional in May 2011 making 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.

Amateur wins

Professional wins (12)

LPGA Tour wins (3)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of victoryRunner(s)-upWinner's share ($)
116 Oct 2016LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship[1]69-70-69-70=278–10PlayoffUnited States Alison Lee300,000
213 Nov 2016Citibanamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational67-72-68-68=275–132 strokesUnited States Austin Ernst England Jodi Ewart Shadoff France Karine Icher Australia Sarah Jane Smith United States Angela Stanford200,000
314 Jun 2025Meijer LPGA Classic69-67-69-67=272–161 strokeSouth Korea Choi Hye-jin450,000

1 Co-sanctioned by the LPGA of Korea Tour.

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
12014CME Group Tour ChampionshipParaguay Julieta Granada New Zealand Lydia KoKo won with par on fourth extra hole Granada eliminated by par on second hole
22016Meijer LPGA ClassicSouth Korea Kim Sei-youngLost to birdie on first extra hole
32016LPGA KEB–Hana Bank ChampionshipUnited States Alison LeeWon with birdie on first extra hole

Ladies European Tour (8)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of victoryRunner(s)-up
13 Jun 2012Deloitte Ladies Open71-67-69=207–92 strokesFinland Ursula Wikström
228 Oct 2012China Suzhou Taihu Open65-70-64=199–177 strokesGermany Caroline Masson
32 Jun 2013UniCredit Ladies German Open68-33=101–6PlayoffEngland Charley Hull
429 Sep 2019Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open72-68-65-71=276−81 strokeGermany Esther Henseleit
528 Nov 2021Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De España70-66-70-67=273−114 strokesSweden Maja Stark
610 Jul 2022Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open65-67-68-70=270−182 strokesScotland Laura Beveridge
721 May 2023Aramco Team Series – Florida72-69-73=214−21 strokeCzech Republic Klára Spilková
81 Dec 2024Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De España67-66-66-71=270−181 strokeBelgium Manon De Roey

LET playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
12013UniCredit Ladies German OpenEngland Charley HullWon with birdie on first extra hole
22017Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies OpenSweden Anna Nordqvist England Florentyna ParkerParker won with birdie on fourth extra hole Ciganda eliminated by birdie on first hole

LET Access Series (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of victoryRunner-up
119 Nov 2011Murcia Ladies Open68-76-70=214–5PlayoffDenmark Julie Tvede

LET Access Series playoff record (1–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
12011Murcia Ladies OpenDenmark Julie TvedeWon with birdie on sixth extra hole

Results in LPGA majors

Results not in chronological order.

Tournament200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Chevron ChampionshipT66T61T4T56T60CUTT4T24CUTCUTT126T9
U.S. Women's OpenT39T57T63CUTCUTT53T22CUTT49T28T20T19CUT
Women's PGA ChampionshipT37T13CUTCUTT20T33T48T3CUTCUTT3CUTT71
The Evian Championship ^T52CUTT38T17T32T3310NTCUTT3DQCUTCUT
Women's British OpenT52CUTCUTT17CUTT29CUTT31T23T77T51T34CUTCUTT37CUT

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013

CUT = missed the half-way cut DQ = disqualified NT = no tournament T = tied

Summary

TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Chevron Championship0002461310
U.S. Women's Open0012251410
Women's PGA Championship002224138
The Evian Championship001123127
Women's British Open0000241710
Totals004712226945
  • 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

YearTournaments playedCuts madeWins2nd3rdTop 10sBest finishEarnings ($)Money list rankScoring averageScoring rank
2012330000T17$79,6798573.25n/a
2013191301022355,9494071.9849
201423180101T2367,2804472.1764
2015251901032404,8494271.7751
20162622210711,116,1991470.5616
201722200017T3765,0082470.3521
20182522021921,244,610870.098
201923220118T2998,6541569.9410
202012110013T3477,7072070.589
202122190002T5329,9446171.1756
202224170014T3826,6143370.5829
202321170026T31,096,6622370.2010
202422170013T3853,5744671.1142
20252116101511,115,9773771.0049

Official as of 2025 season

Ladies European Tour

YearLET winsEarnings (€)Money list rankScoring average
20122251,290170.46
20131173,329570.88
20140140,730570.32
2015019,489n/a70.78
2016057,266n/a71.36
20170160,798269.41
20180153,09469.31

Official as of 2018 season

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

YearRankingSource
2007502
2008504
2009705
2010605
2011291
201250
201339
201446
201551
201620
201720
201815
201916
202015
202146
202252
202329
202437
202535

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Solheim Cup record

YearTotal matchesTotal W–L–HSingles W–L–HFoursomes W–L–HFourballs W–L–HPoints wonPoints %
Career2512–11–44–2–12–4–16–5–21456.0
201333–0–01–0–0 def. M. Pressel 4&20–0–02–0–0 won w/ S. Pettersen 1 up won w/ A. Muñoz 1 up3100.0
201541–1–20–0–1 halved w/ L. Thompson1–0–0 won w/ M. Reid 4&30–1–1 halved w/ M. Reid lost w/ A. Muñoz 3&2250.0
201741–3–01–0–0 def. B. Lincicome 4&30–1–0 lost w/ C. Masson 1 dn0–2–0 lost w/ E. Pedersen 6&5 lost w/ M. Reid 2 dn125.0
201951–2–21–0–0 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&1240.0
202131–2–00–1–0 lost to B. Altomare 2&10–0–01–1–0 lost w/ S. Popov 1 dn won w/ N. Madsen 1 up133.3
202344–0–01–0–0 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&14100.0
202441–3–00–1–0 lost to R. Zhang 6&40–2–0 lost w/ L. Grant 3&2 lost w/ E. Pedersen 1 dn1–0–0 won w/ E. Pedersen 2&1125.0

External links