The average number of putts per tournament for a winner on the PGA Tour is 109.8. Or, put another way, 28.75 per round. The Spaniard Blanca Fernández (+3) has 108 after three rounds at the Australian Women’s Classic, a tournament on the Ladies European Tour taking place at the Magenta Shores Golf & Country Club. Conclusion: she still has 18 holes to play and already has almost the same total. Her average is 36.
Permission for a simple, old‑school calculation. If Blanca were averaging in Australia like a PGA Tour winner, she would currently have a total of 86 putts, exactly 22 fewer putts than she has. Not only would she be leading the tournament, she would practically have already won without needing to play the final day, as she would be at -19 on the leaderboard, seven strokes clear of the leader, Kelsey Bennett (-12). Don’t take the figures literally, I wish it were that simple, but they do serve to give an idea of two things: the ordeal the Madrid player is having on the greens this week and how well she is playing from tee to green to be only at +3 with those numbers.
Blanca can no longer remember that pleasant feeling of finishing a green with a single putt on her card. Her last one‑putt on a green was at the 12th hole on the first day. That is, 42 holes have now gone by without holing out at the first attempt. More than a nightmare it feels like a bad joke. Is it really true that not even one putt will drop by chance? Today she had 36 putts, two per hole. It’s not an average. It’s mathematics. She has made two putts per hole. For this reason, despite hitting 16 greens, she didn’t make a single birdie and suffered two bogeys, obviously on the two holes where she failed to reach the green. Frustrating.
Golf is complicated enough not to avoid keeping a constructive view. Blanca’s reading should be “I’m playing great golf, okay, the greens aren’t with me this week, I need to stick to this and the week will come when I can capitalise on all that great golf I’m showing”. The conclusion is that if Blanca keeps playing from tee to green like this, the day she feels comfortable on the greens she can start leaving the rest behind. They will have to fight for second place.
Beyond Blanca, who sits 53rd on the leaderboard, the main takeaway from the third round is that there will be no Spanish victory on this course north of Sydney. Luna Sobrón (+2) is the best‑placed Spaniard in 49th, in a week where she still hasn’t beaten the course, while Marta Sanz (+6) had a rough day, with 78 strokes. She carded an eagle and a birdie, but lost a lot with five bogeys and two double bogeys.
As we say, the solo lead belongs to the Australian Kelsey Bennett (-12). She will tee off in the featured group for the second consecutive week, aiming for her first victory on the LET. Last week she suffered badly on Sunday; we’ll see if she has learned and taken a step forward. It won’t be easy, as two players are hot on her heels: the Englishwomen Caley McGinty and Meghan MacLaren at -11. Behind them are Alice Hewson (-9), Pranavi Urs (-8) and Trichat Cheenglab (-8). Theory says the victory should come from one of these six players. The round of the day went to the Italian Roberta Liti (-7) with a 65
