Spanish Excellence in Georgia
Bernat Escuder wins Augusta National Women's Amateur with clutch closing round
Carla Bernat Escuder has said she likes to treat herself with good meals after good days.
Given what she accomplished on Saturday, dinner deserves to be three-star Michelin fare.
With both a precocious teenager and the defending champion on her heels, Bernat Escuder held steady at Augusta National Golf Club to win the sixth Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
In fact, the 21-year-old from Castellon, Spain demonstrated much more than steadiness on a warm and breezy day in northeast Georgia. Bernat Escuder shot a final-round 68, one of the day’s better scores, to defeat Asterisk Talley, 16, by one stroke. The 2025 champion, Lottie Woad, finished three shots behind in third place.
The third time was the charm for Bernat Escuder, who missed the cut in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2022 and tied for 17th place in 2024.
Bernat Escuder is the first Spaniard to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Her victory comes 45 years after the late Seve Ballesteros won the first of his two green jackets. Spain’s other two-time Masters champion, José María Olazábal, was at Augusta National to congratulate Bernat Escuder with a hug as she walked toward the scoring area after finishing at 12-under 204 in the 54-hole competition.
“José María, he’s just a good symbol for Spain of what golf means and how to act on the golf course,” Bernat Escuder said.
The champion is connected to 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia through his father, Victor, who is one of her coaches. “Sergio, I played with him once when I was back in Spain. We don’t have a really close relationship, but his dad is my coach. I can now feel that I know him.”
On her way to winning the prestigious title, Bernat Escuder hit a shot that Ballesteros and Olazábal—each known for having phenomenal short games—would have been proud to pull off during their primes. It was a wonderful, lofted pitch from a difficult position on the par-4 10th hole that allowed her to save par from 12 feet and maintain the momentum of a front-nine 33.
Bernat Escuder’s execution on that vital flop shot was aided by some recent help she has gotten on greenside play from fellow Spaniard José Ballester, a friend of hers since childhood who won the U.S. Amateur last summer.
“I actually thought about [his tip] on that shot,” Bernat Escuder said. “I was like, ‘If there was one shot that you’re going to need the hands back to hit it higher,’ as he tells me, it’s this one.”
Bernat Escuder is a senior at Kansas State University after earlier attending Tulane for two years. Kansas State’s most notable golf alum is 1965 graduate Jim Colbert, who won eight times on the PGA Tour and 20 titles on PGA Tour Champions. (Colbert also played in 10 Masters, tying for fourth in 1974.) Bernat Escuder was quick to credit her assistant coach at Kansas State, Rinko Mitsunaga, who doubled as her caddie for Saturday’s final round, for helping her quiet her on-course anxiety, which is greatest between shots.
“I am really hard to deal with sometimes on the golf course,” Bernat Escuder admitted. “As soon as I get to the ball, it’s fine, but she the one that walks with me, the one who listens to me complaining, ‘Oh, that was a bad shot.’ She does a really good job listening to me and reassuring me all the time. Without that, I don’t think I could have won.”
After a celebrator dinner might come something else to mark Bernat Escuder’s victory. “Maybe a tattoo,” she said. “We’ll see. I was thinking maybe the flower of Augusta, but I need to decide on that. It’s a big decision.”
Perhaps an inked azalea will be in the champion’s future. Regardless, her name will permanently be on a trophy earned with a bit of big time golf.