AUGUSTA, Ga. – Following another round of 4-under par 68 on Thursday, Kansas State senior women’s golfer Carla Bernat moved up three spots into a tie for third place and will advance to Saturday’s final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA) after the first two days held at the par-72, 6,450-yard Champions Retreat Golf Club.
A native of Castellon, Spain, Bernat holds a 36-hole score of 8-under par 136 and is one shot off the pace set by Oregon’s Kiara Romero and Florida State’s Lottie Woad, the latter of which is the defending champion. Following a Friday practice round at Augusta National Golf Club, the final round will be played on Saturday at the home of the Masters Tournament.
Bernat went bogey free and 2-under par on the front nine on Thursday with birdies on Nos. 4 and 5. She also birdied the par-5 14th hole before her first bogey of the event on No. 16, ending a streak of 33-straight holes without a bogey. However, Bernat bounced back with birdies on the final two holes of the day to produce her second-straight round of 68.
Bernat was the only competitor in the 71-player field to shoot bogey or worse on only one of the first 36 holes of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
“Today, I played pretty well,” Bernat said. “My irons were pretty good. I had a couple of shanks in the back 9. I had two holes that I was pretty close to making bogey early in the back, but I think I handled myself pretty well. Mentally, it was a tough day. I knew I needed to have a good first nine holes to stay ok on the (leaderboard). After that, I was like, ‘Let’s just play.’ At the end, I played better because I was like, ‘You don’t have a lot more holes, so you have to start playing better.’”
Sitting at No. 29 in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), Bernat is one of the final 32 competitors to advance to the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and she will play in the second-to-last group on Saturday.
Golf Channel’s “Live From the Masters” will commence on Friday at Augusta National to provide coverage of the ANWA, while NBC Sports will produce and broadcast three hours (12 to 3 p.m. ET) of live final-round coverage on Saturday. Live scoring is available at www.anwagolf.com.
