Spain’s Carla Bernat Escuder won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur after after clinching a one-shot success with a 12-under total of 204.
Bernat Escuder, 21, made up a two-shot deficit against English defending champion Lottie Woad over the course of the final round at Augusta National and held off a late charge by American Asterisk Talley.
Woad had jointly led overnight but a bogey on the par-three 16th effectively ended her hopes of becoming the first player to win successive ANWA championships.
She birdied three of the final four holes to win last year’s title but was unable to match that charge this year, missing a 10-foot birdie putt on the 15th and then finding a greenside bunker at the 16th and taking three more shots from there.
Woad had started the final round on nine under after two rounds at the nearby Champions Retreat course, but could only shoot a level-par 72 at the famed Georgia course.
Bernat Escuder rolled in a four-foot par putt on the last to win the sixth staging of the championship by one shot from teenager Talley.
The 21-year-old Spaniard had six birdies and two bogeys in her round of 68 to post 12 under and hold off Talley, who also shot a four-under-par final round.
Talley, 16, holed her second shot from the fairway for an eagle two on the par-four first. She then had successive birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to put pressure on Bernat Escuder, but the Spaniard kept her nerve to par the last.
“I cannot process that I won,” said Bernat Escuder who is the first player to score under 70 in all three rounds. “I tried to enjoy this round with my coach because it’s going to be the last one. I’m turning professional this summer, so I was really focused on just enjoying Augusta National because it’s the best golf course in the world.”
The victory entitles Bernat Escuder to play in four of the year’s five women’s majors, including the US Women’s Open and Women’s Open.