Rising Marbella star Noemí Jiménez had produced some excellent results in her 2016 appearances on The Gecko Tour and it seemed only a matter of time before she would break through for her first victory. That moment came in the third event of 2017, and 11th of the 2016-17 season, at Atalaya Golf & Country Club.
Twenty-three-old Jiménez thus became the first women in the six-year history of the tour to lift a champion’s trophy, but not before some anxious moments at the end of the two-day tournament. There was a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard after regulation play, Noemí being joined by Englishmen Sam Connor and Steven Jones and another Costa del Sol-born star of the future, Mario Galiano, who had won the Gecko event played at Atalaya in December.
The latter two two dropped out after the first play-off hole, and Jiménez sealed another birdie on the second extra hole to take the title.
Understandably delighted with her victory, after a rookie year on the Ladies European Tour when she finished 87th on the order of merit, with two top-10 finishes, she now heads to Australia for the first event of the new LET season in February, before returning to Spain and attempting to add to her Gecko tally.
