Carla Bernat (+3) has not only delivered the best round of the day on the second day of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She has not only made the cut coming from far behind. She has not only guaranteed herself a competition round at the coliseum of Augusta National. She has not only removed the thorn of what happened in her first participation in this tournament. Even, she has not only given herself a chance to win the tournament. In addition to all this, what Carla has done today at the Champions Retreat must be qualified as a feat.
The golfer from Castellón, who plays for Kansas State, has signed an exceptional 69-stroke card in very difficult conditions, as the wind has blown with great intensity, at times above 40 kilometers per hour. It was survival golf and she played something else. She signed four birdies and a solitary bogey. It is the comeback of the tournament and the demonstration that what happened on Wednesday in the first round was a mere accident. Let’s not forget that she came from winning last week. She is one of the most in-form amateur golfers in the world and we will have to keep a close eye on her on Saturday in the last round. She is far from the lead, eight strokes, but in Augusta, there can be great upheavals in the classification.
To understand the dimension of Carla’s round, it is worth offering some context. Only five golfers have managed to win this Thursday on the field, and four of them have been with a result of just one under par. On the contrary, up to ten players have made 79 or more strokes. It was a bloody and ruthless battle and only the strongest have been able to stand. Hats off to the Spaniard.
In addition to Carla, Cata Fernández (PAR), Paula Martín (+1) and Andrea Revuelta (+2) have made the cut. If Bernat has chances of victory, what to say about these three. Cata is five strokes from the lead held by the English Lotti Woad (-5) and three from the second place shared by the Americans Gianna Clemente (-3) and Maisie Filler (-3).
Cayetana has signed a very moved 74-stroke card, with five bogeys and three birdies. On her last hole, the 18th, she saved a great par with an extraordinary approach from the rough. In addition, Martín has made 73 strokes, five bogeys and four birdies, coming back a day that had become very twisted, and Revuelta has delivered a card of 74, with two birdies and four bogeys. Both Paula and Andrea are playing the tournament for the first time, so they have even more merit.
Four out of seven Spanish women within the cut is a great balance. They could not achieve it Carolina López Chacarra (+4), who was left at the gates with a round of 74 strokes tremendously fought, Julia López (+5), who has not had her week and Rocío Tejedo, the smallest of all to whom only the experience is going to serve a lot in the future.
There are twelve players under par in the tournament. We will have to see how many finish on Saturday. Rose Zhang already won in 2023 coming out with a great previous advantage and finally forced to go to a tiebreaker. Why is it not going to happen again this year with the Spanish. Of course, they have manufactured the opportunity. We must not rule out that the final winner ends up at -5 or -4, a difficult record, but not unattainable for the Spanish.
