Spain claimed the silver medal this Saturday at the 2025 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship, Espirito Santo Trophy, held in Singapore, where the established tiebreaker criterion -best third card- favoured the United States. The birdies that didn’t drop in the third round prevented Paula Martín, Andrea Revuelta, and Carolina López-Chacarra from crowning the Golden Generation of Spanish golf with the best of titles. Even so, they had the opportunity today, but two final bogeys by Carolina on the 15th and Paula on the 17th prevented them from finishing at the top.
A lot of merit, silver of law, but it deserved to be gold. It’s not just a saying. If all three cards had counted every day, Spain would have won by seven strokes. If the same two cards had always counted, with any of our three players, Spain would have won by at least five strokes. In other words, Spain was the best team by far in Singapore, even if the tournament format doesn’t reflect it in the medals. On the other hand, perhaps the debate on the tiebreaker method should be put on the table. Gentlemen, it’s a World Championship, and it’s costly to go to a playoff. Otherwise, let the team that, by adding the worst card each day, is the best, win. Anyway, let’s see if they reconsider it.
Only the United States and South Korea, two superpowers of women’s golf, matched the trio captained by Covadonga Basagoiti at Tanah Merah CC (Singapore). All three concluded the week at -18, which forced the application of the tiebreaker criterion; since the discarded rounds today from Spain and the United States were identical (the decisive factor was the three finishing birdies by American Catherine Park), they had to resort to yesterday’s, where the Americans won. A shame, but that’s sport.
This Saturday, once again, Paula Martín performed as the world number 2, aggressive and talented as she is. The putts that didn’t drop on Friday began to find the hole, and she was at -4 on the 12th tee. From there, things clouded slightly; a pity about that bogey on the 17th that temporarily knocked Spain off the lead. Paula finished third, also due to the tiebreaker in the tournament’s final round.
Also finishing at -3 for the day was Andrea Revuelta, fifth in the individual standings. The Stanford player -like Paula Martín- made us dream of the title with her birdies on the 16th and 17th. Another splendid week for Andrea.
The magnificent performance of Paula and Andrea should not overshadow that of Carolina López-Chacarra, one of only three players to beat the course in all four rounds. This Saturday, she posted the same result as in previous days (71) with the same sense of solidity. A sensational performance by the Madrid native before taking another step in her career.
With this result, Spain came within millimetres of securing its third title in the competition after those in 1986 and 1992, matching the silver achieved two years ago.
It is worth noting that the Spanish delegation was completed by coach Álvaro Salto and physiotherapist Álvaro Zerolo.
36 perfect opening holes and a challenging third round
At the halfway point of the event, Spain was second and had excellent prospects. If in the first round it was Andrea Revuelta who led the team with an outstanding round of 68 strokes (-4), in the second it was Paula Martín who took on the leadership role with a 67 (-5), highlighted by seven birdies. The Madrid native accumulated eleven birdies in 36 holes.
Thursday also counted the 71 (-1) from Andrea Revuelta herself, who continued to show winning consistency: in those two rounds, she had recorded a double bogey, Thursday’s on the 15th hole, and not a single bogey. From there, the margin for a good result was enormous.
In the third round, Spain experienced the downside of sport, those days when the ball doesn’t want to go in, and all that’s left is to keep rowing and trusting. That’s what our players did, especially Paula Martín, to leave the team in third place provisionally.
By the 10th hole, Spain was at a critical point, with Paula and Andrea Revuelta at +3 and +2, respectively, a new situation also spiced up with stoppages due to thunderstorms that left time for overthinking. Carolina López-Chacarra was advancing, contributing a card (71, -1) on the most challenging day. A pity about that bogey on the 15th hole.
When it seemed that Spain’s chances were becoming almost irreversibly complicated, Paula rebuilt her card with three birdies – especially celebrated were those on the 16th and 17th – to finish at par. This reaction allowed Spain to maintain its title chances, although these became significantly complicated; they were four strokes behind South Korea.
