Carla Bernat Escuder knows the age-old saying:
“The Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday.”
She figured the addanage also applied to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
When Bernat Escuder came to the famous par-4 10th and missed the green with her second shot, she made sure she wasn’t going to lose her chance right as the tournament got real.
“As soon as I hit that second shot,” Bernat Escuder said, “I was like, ‘Oh, I need to get it together and just get this par, and I dig in,’ and I think that was the key.”
Bernat Escuder made a huge par save on the 10th to preserve the two-shot lead she built up with birdies at 8 and 9 and then held off defending champion Lottie Woad and a surging Asterisk Talley to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at 12 under par.
“I feel over the moon,” Bernat Escuder said in Butler Cabin after the round. “Right now, I don’t think my brain has processed that I won.”
The 21-year-old senior at Kansas State becomes the first female champion from Spain at Augusta National, following in the footsteps of several legendary Spanish champions at the Masters like Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm.
She also grew up being coached by Garcia’s father, Victor, a distinction she shares with U.S. Amateur champion Jose Louis Ballester, who will be teeing it up at the Masters this coming week.
“I’m so thankful for him,” Bernat Escuder said. “He just helped me so much with my golf swing and even outside of the golf course, he’s always there for me. I wish he could be here, but he’s going to be here next week because one of my best friends [Ballester] is playing in the Masters, too.”
Bernat Escuder started the day a shot back of co-leaders Kiarra Romero and Woad at eight under.
While she referenced the old saying about the Masters not starting until the final back nine, Bernat Escuder started to make her move just before the turn on Saturday. She made birdie at the par-5 8th and then used the slope to perfection on the 9th to set up another and get to 11 under. She then drilled the long par save at 10 to keep the momentum.
At the same time, Woad, the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings, was not as fortunate at 10. After a perfect tee shot in the left center of the fairway, Woad pulled her tee shot long left of the green and into the bushes, leading to a drop and a double bogey that dropped her back to eight under.
Talley, the 16-year-old sensation who was co-low amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open and runner-up at both the U.S. Junior Girl’s and U.S. Women’s Amateurs last summer, was just making her move. Talley began the day with a hole-out eagle at the difficult 1st, and then birdied 16 and 17, the latter thanks to a miraculous escape from the left trees to post 11 under.
Bernat Escuder played solid on the back nine, making birdie at both par-5s, before dropping one at the 17th after hitting her second in the bunker. At 18, her second went too far, missing the slope and carrying to the back of the green.
But her touch from the upper tear was perfect as she left the putt about two and a half feet short, giving herself an easy par putt to shoot 68 and preserve the one-shot victory.
