The walk up the hill toward the 18th green at Augusta National is one of the best in golf, to be soaked in and cherished, remembered for a lifetime.
Carla Bernat Escuder got to experience that feeling Saturday afternoon, but it was only after she reached the green, hit her first putt and realized what remained at stake that she was startled into a momentary bit of panic.
“It's hard to describe with words, but I was just so happy and relieved that I made the putt because I saw on a scoreboard there was one girl that was just one shot behind me,” said Bernat Escuder, who is from Spain. “ I was like, you need to make this. So yeah, happy.”
The Kansas State University senior converted a nervy par putt to complete a 4-under 68 and defeat rising amateur and junior player Asterisk Talley by a stroke to capture the sixth Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
In the process, she overcame second-round co-leader and defending champion Lottie Woad, a Florida State junior who is the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world.
“I felt like an underdog, from the very beginning of the tournament,” she said. “But I wasn't looking at the people that was behind me. I was looking at the winners, the ones on top of the leaderboard, because that's how it helps me play better.”
Bernat Escuder, who had two previous experiences in the ANWA, has eight top-10 finishes this season on the college circuit including two victories. For each of the past two seasons, she earned second team All-America honors.
Talley, a three-time junior All-American whose other ties to Augusta National involved the Drive, Chip and Putt contest, was runner-up last year in the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Her final-round 68 included holing out for eagle on the first hole.
“I think it tells me that I can play against anybody, and I don't have to be scared of any course or anybody in the field,” she said. “Just knowing that this is one of the most crazy courses and it's so hilly and hard to play, but knowing that I played well here against the best people in the world is something that I'm going to take with me.”
Bernat Escuder began the day a shot behind Woad and Kiara Romero and made birdies at the fifth, eighth and ninth holes to shoot 33 going out and get to 11 under par. For a time, she had a three-shot lead as Woad fell back with a double-bogey at the 10th.
“I think you learn every time you're in contention,” said Woad, who is from England. “It's just putting yourself in those positions really. You can't win every time. I can be pretty happy with how I played this week. Like the goal coming into it was just to be in contention. So got that, and yeah, it was a pretty good defense in the end.”
Last year, Woad birdied three of the last four holes to win but couldn’t mount the same kind of rally this time, while Bernat Escuder added birdies at the 13th 15th holes before a bogey at No. 17 things a bit more nervous.
She finished at 204, 12-under par, shooting 68 each day—the first two rounds were played at nearby Champions Retreat—and becoming the first winner to shoot all three rounds in the 60s.
Bernat Escuder said she counts Spanish golfers Jon Rahm and Sergio García among those she looks up to and got a warm embrace from two-time Masters champion José Maria Olazábal, who was waiting for her when she finished.
“He was just saying, ‘Congratulations,’ and that he watched some of the golf that I played today,” she said. “It means everything because he's such a symbol for Spain.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Carla Bernat Escuder Rallies to Win Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
