The Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, in The Woodlands, Texas, will host this week, from Thursday to Sunday, a new edition of the The Chevron Championship, the first women’s major of the season. An event where the best players in the world will compete for a prestigious victory in a tournament that, over the past few years, has become a real springboard for amateurs.
In the list of amateur players who have a place in the tournament are Gianna Clemente, Chayse Gómez, Jasmine Koo, Asterisk Talley, Clarisa Temelo, Lottie Woad, and Jeneath Wong, but especially, all eyes, particularly ours, will be on the Spaniard Carla Bernat, who, in addition to having achieved several university victories with Kansas State University, arrives at the American course as the current and brilliant champion of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Augusta National earlier this April.
This title has precisely allowed her to earn a place in a Chevron turned into a constellation of stars, with Nelly Korda defending her title against figures like Jeeno Thitikul, Angel Yin, Lilia Vu, Lydia Ko, Charley Hull, Min Jee Lee, Brooke Henderson, or the Spaniard Carlota Ciganda (tied fourth in 2015 and 2019 and sixth last year), among many others. An unforgettable moment in the budding career of Carla in pursuit of a triple challenge: to be the best amateur in the tournament, achieve the best result of a non-professional player in this first Major of the year, and, incidentally, start building a path similar to that which other amateurs began at this same event. Remember that she has secured her presence in all the majors of this year except the KPMG Women’s LPGA.
Throughout the history of the event, since it became part of the list of women’s Majors in 1983, only four amateur players have managed to break into the top 10 in any of its editions. Aree Song, with a tied 10th place, was the first, in the year 2000. But pay attention to the names of the other three: Lorena Ochoa, a golf legend, who was 8th in 2002, Michelle Wie West, an icon of American women’s sports, who was tied 9th in 2003 and fourth in 2004, and Stacy Lewis, another former world number one, tied fifth in 2007.
If we review the list of the best amateurs of each edition of the Chevron Championship this century, we find renowned figures such as Lexi Thompson in 2009, Ariya Jutanugarn in 2011 and 2012, Lydia Ko in 2013, Minjee Lee in 2014, Albane Valenzuela in 2016, Jeeno Thitikul in 2018, or one of the most recent, the media-savvy Rose Zhang, who was the best amateur of the tournament in the 2020 edition.
That should be the first challenge of the week for Carla Bernat, to try to surpass the other seven amateur players present in this Chevron Championship of 2025 to add her name to all these stars who had the The Woodlands tournament as a springboard. From there, it’s only left to dream of, why not, trying to fight to be the fifth in history to break into the top 10… or achieve a ‘podium’ that would be the best result of a non-professional golfer in this event since its inception.
It will undoubtedly be challenging objectives due to facing so many LPGA stars together for the first time, everything surrounding a major, and having to deal with the longest course of the year on the circuit, with no less than 6,911 yards (almost 6,320 meters). The 19 under par by Dottie Pepper in 1999 remains, almost three decades later, as the best historical result in the Chevron (played on another course and with a different name). The tournament has seen two 62-stroke cards, one by Lorena Ochoa in 2006 and another by Lydia Ko in 2021, also in other venues. Meanwhile, the most comfortable victory was by the Australian Karrie Webb with a 10-stroke advantage in the year 2000.
Some intimidating numbers in a tournament that adds an extra difficulty for those aspiring to victory and top positions: the umpteenth return of Lexi Thompson, officially retired from the LPGA at the end of last year but who has already been seen in three tournaments in 2025: the Founders Cup where she was tied 13th, the Ford Championship where she finished in tied 38th place, and the JM Eagle LA Championship where she missed the cut. This week she will try to prove that she hasn’t completely left yet…
BEST AMATEUR PLAYERS OF THE CHEVRON THIS CENTURY
2024 · T13 Jasmine Koo (a) 2023 · T28 Eila Galitsky (a) 2022 · T65 Brooke Seay (a) 2021 · CUT Aline Krauter (a) 2020 · T11 Rose Zhang (a) 2019 · T26 Patty Tavatanakit (a) 2018 · T30 Jeeno Thitikul (a) 2017 · T70 Lucy Li (a) 2016 · T65 Albane Valenzuela (a) 2015 · T67 Haley Moore (a) 2014 · T24 Minjee Lee (a) 2013 · T25 Lydia Ko (a) 2012 · T22 Ariya Jutanugarn (a) 2011 · T25 Ariya Jutanugarn (a) 2010 · T21 Jennifer Song (a) 2009 · T21 Tiffany Joh (a) and Lexi Thompson (a) 2008 · 30 Amanda Blumenherst (a) 2007 · T5 Stacy Lewis (a) 2006 · T15 Angela Park (a) 2005 · T14 Michelle Wie West (a) 2004 · 4 Michelle Wie West (a) 2003 · T9 Michelle Wie West (a) 2002 · 8 Lorena Ochoa (a) 2001 · T21 Lorena Ochoa (a) 2000 · T10 Aree Song (a)
