Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion leans on her Spanish roots to win

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Victory feels great for Carla Bernat Escuder, the new champion of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

She finished with a 4-under 68 on Saturday, unseating last year’s champion Lottie Woad from England, who came in third.

Bernat Escuder set a new Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship record of 12-under 204. Bernat Escuder s Masters champions Seve Ballesteros (1980, 1983), José María Olazábal (1994, 1999), Sergio García (2017) and Jon Rahm (2023) as players representing Spain to win at Augusta National.

The No. 29 amateur in the world, Bernat Escuder started the final round trailing by one stroke and was one-under on the day through her first seven holes. She then had back-to-back birdies, highlighted by an approach to inches on the par-4 ninth hole. After the tap-in birdie, she finished the first nine with a three-under 33 to take the outright lead for the first time at 11-under.

Bernat Escuder began the final nine with three consecutive pars and narrowly missed an eagle putt on No. 13, extending her lead to three strokes with five holes to play.

After adding another birdie on No. 15, the Kansas State University senior found the bunker on No. 17 and dropped a shot, but outlasted a late charge from Asterisk Talley to secure victory with a two-putt for par on the final hole.

The 21-year-old s Jennifer Kupcho, Tsubasa Kajitani, Anna Davis, Rose Zhang and Woad as Augusta National Women’s Amateur champions.

How does it feel to be the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion from Spain?

“It feels amazing. I feel over the moon. Right now, I don’t think my brain has processed that I won,” said Bernat Escuder.

It was good playing with fellow Spaniard Andrea Revuelta, she said.

“It made it feel like we were not in Augusta, either. It was like we were playing when we were 15 back in the day,” she said.

“I think we’re becoming better and better, Spaniards. We have a really good group of swing coaches that help us push each other, too.”

It’s an honor to be the first champion from Spain, she said.

“I mean, it’s pretty cool. Hopefully, it doesn’t stay like that because I want more Spaniards to get here and keep pushing our country up and up,” she said. “Yeah, hopefully I’m not the last one.”

Bernat Escuder, who grew up in the same region as Masters champion Sergio Garcia and U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester, made up a two-shot deficit against defending champion Woad and held off a late charge by Talley.

Bernat Escuder did it with a little help from her Spanish heritage. Garcia’s father, Victor, is one of her coaches and she recently leaned on Ballester — they’ve been friends since age 7 — because she felt her short game was lacking.

That was severely put to the test as Bernat Escuder began the second nine. She left her approach right of the bunker, one of the toughest spots to be, with the golf ball slightly above her feet. Bernat Escuder hit a marvelous flop shot to 12 feet and holed the par putt.

“I knew the tournament was going to start on No. 10 because I’ve watched all the Masters,” she said, a reference to the famous phrase that the Masters doesn’t start until the second nine on Sunday. “As soon as I hit that second shot, 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.”

Her lead was only one shot at that point — she went out in 33 — and that was about to change.

Woad was looking to become the first back-to-back winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She was tied for the lead with Kiara Romero going into the final group, birdied the first hole and led by two early.

But it all came undone on the 10th.

From the fairway, she was aggressive with her approach and tugged the shot left and over the green, into a bush. Woad had to take a penalty drop, chipped on and missed the putt, giving her a double bogey and leaving her three shots behind.

“I put a good swing on it, it was just the wrong club,” said Woad, who went with a 5-iron.

She had to chase, just like a year ago when she delivered a memorable back-nine charge. This time, she could only manage two birdies and closed with a 72 to finish third.

“Pretty frustrated,” Woad said.

The charge came from Talley, the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Junior Girls runner-up, who began the final round by holing out from the first fairway for eagle.

Coming off a birdie at the 16th to get to within three shots, Talley hit a remarkable recovery from under the pines left of the 17th fairway. The ball stayed under the limbs and rolled up along the edge of the bunker, using all of the slope to get to about 18 feet behind the hole.

Instead of scrambling for par, she holed the putt for birdie to give herself a chance.

Talley, however, was too strong with her approach on the 18th, leaving the ball on the top tier with hole some 40 feet away in its typical Masters Sunday location. She did well to two-putt for par and a 68.

“I was just trying to shoot my score and having a lot of fun,” Talley said.