Chiara Noja diary: Thanks for the messages and wishes after my maiden victory

As I write this diary, my dad and myself are driving the 1,478 kilometre journey from the Czech Republic to France, to be exact, from Prague to Montauban.

We are told it will take well over 10 hours, so let’s sit back and see how it all goes.

Firstly, I have received lots of messages and love from all my team and everyone I know, as well as new friends and fans following my maiden victory on the Ladies’ European Tour Access Series (LETAS) last week. Thank you all!

A special thanks to my dad, Tom, for being on the bag caddying for me all the way and to my partners: Winters & Hirsch, Klarity Works, Titleist Footjoy and Jumeirah Golf Estates. I would not be where I am today without all your support.

It was always on the plan to hopefully get a win as soon as possible, and I am somewhat relieved it is now behind me and that pressure is off.

To be honest I was disappointed not to win earlier in the season in early April, the first event of the LETAS season, at the Terre Blanche Ladies Open, where I had a two-stroke lead going into the last round and lost in the play-off on the fourth extra hole.

This week’s tournament will come around very quickly, the €42,500 Montauban Ladies Open at Golf De Montauban in France. When we eventually get to Montauban, I will have two days to rest from the car journey, and prepare for this week’s event which begins on Friday.

This week also marks an important anniversary for me, it is one year ago that I played in my first LETAS event here in France as an amateur and finished tied 21st with rounds of 75, 72 and 73, four-over par.

My main focus for 2022 remains to get my full Ladies European Tour card through being in the top six of the LETAS at the end of this year.

There are very few shortcuts in climbing the pyramid of professional golf and I sit proudly at the top of the list after four events, and three for me. I am determined to stay there.

This win will hopefully open up doors for me moving forward, but I remain focused on the next event and try not to get ahead of myself.

I have calculated that with one more win, that will, perhaps, be enough to get my 2023 LET card, but with 11 tournaments to go, after this week in France, there is a long way to go until the honours are distributed in October.

After this week, I am an invite in the $1 million ARAMCO Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and then back on the LETAS to play in Belgium, June 23-25, 2022.

See you all soon!

- Chiara Noja (Germany) is a 16-year-old Dubai based professional who plays on the LETAS and recorded her first victory in the 2022 AMUNDI Czech Ladies Challenge in the Czech Republic last week.