Carla Bernat makes history for Spanish golf by winning the Augusta National Women's Amateur
Carla Bernat has made history by achieving what no other Spanish woman had managed to do until now: win the prestigious Augusta National Women's Amateur on the wonderful course at Augusta National. Where Seve, Chema, Sergio and Jon had elevated Spanish golf to the highest level, Carla has added one of the most brilliant pages to our history book.
She has done so by always playing at an excellent level: first by earning a place among the main contenders at the end of the first two days of play, the days that designate which golfers have the right to play at Augusta National, and then by performing in the final round like an old hand, as if instead of playing in the temple of golf she were playing on her home course.
The player from Castellón won with a total of -12 thanks to her third consecutive 68 of the week. In this final round, she handled herself with the solidity of a professional, scoring birdies one after another, up to six, and holding her breath at the only moment when things could have gone uphill, with the bogey at the 17th.
The American Asterisk Talley (-11 overall) put pressure on Carla with two good birdies on 16 and 17, but the Spaniard was unfazed. In fact, she played the 18th with astonishing calm, making a textbook par and then sinking a one-metre putt right down the centre of the hole.
From there on in, it was madness. The thousands of people who enjoyed the day hailed her as what she is, a firm promise for world golf. Chema Olazábal, who is someone at Augusta, was waiting for her before entering the clubhouse to give her the first of the hundreds of hugs that awaited her. That hug, Chema's, is that of all Spanish golf.
Sensational Spanish choral performance
The fact that we turned up at the tournament as the largest delegation - with the exception of the Americans, of course - was already a success in itself, but to leave Georgia with the good feelings of each and every one of the Spanish golfers is quite a statement of intent from this generation.
Andrea Revuelta finished fourth with -8 and a round of par that tastes like victory. Her second round, of 66 strokes, has served to show the world, in case anyone didn't know it at this point, that there is a great golfer out there.
Carolina López-Chacarra, for her part, finished ninth with a score of -6 thanks to an extremely happy end to the round, with a partial score of -5 for the last seven holes. Her eagle on the 15th was the icing on the cake in her fifth participation in the event.
The fourth Spaniard in the cut, Paula Martín, finished the week in eighteenth place with a score of -1 after three rounds of going from strength to strength (69, 72 and 74). The ever-reliable Madrid native had a sour finish (a double bogey-bogey-bogey) that should not tarnish her good week.
On Thursday night, after the two rounds of play at Champions Retreat, Cayetana Fernández (+1) and Rocío Tejedo (+2) were left out of the cut. They both regretted bogeys on 17 and 18 in the case of the Madrid player, and a double bogey on 15 in the case of the player from Castellón. A shame, because both were close to the cut throughout the day.