AUGUSTA, Ga. – As Carol Cox watched from the rope line, tears welled in her eyes. Just a few yards away, flashbulbs were illuminating Carla Bernat Escuder, the 21-year-old Spaniard who had become like a sixth granddaughter to Cox, and her newest prize, the coveted sterling silver bowl with 24k yellow gold vermeil that goes to the champion of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
While Cox had a front-row view of the trophy presentation, her husband of 62 years, Dave, arguably had the best vantage point – from up above.
Dave Cox played college football at Northern Iowa before becoming a beloved high-school football coach in Iowa. His second career was in athletics administration, with stops at Iowa State, Nebraska-Omaha and Kansas State. For the last 15 years, Dave and Carol hosted Wildcats players who were competing in the Westbrook Invitational, a college tournament staged each spring near the Cox’s home in Peoria, Arizona. One of those players was Bernat, who immediately bonded with Dave, the two of them frequently communicating via text with Dave constantly sending words of encouragement before big tournaments and after tough losses.
“He was always in her corner,” Carol Cox said. “He loved her, and she loved him.”
When Dave died suddenly, at age 83, from an acute illness on Dec. 13, Carol phoned Bernat to break the tragic news. Bernat began sobbing.
“He had nothing to win by sending me messages and helping me become a better player mentally,” Bernat said. “I was thinking a lot about him today.”
Bernat reserved two tickets, for Carol and the couple’s only daughter, Jenny, to attend Saturday’s final round at Augusta National Golf Club. Little did they know that Bernat would end up playing her way into the penultimate pairing, just a shot back of co-leaders Lottie Woad and Kiara Romero to start the day.
Kansas State head coach Stew Burke was also in Bernat’s gallery, donning a pin on the back of his trucker hat that read, “For Dave,” with images of a lemon, orange and grapefruit. Bernat keeps one on her college bag, a reminder of the man who grew fruit trees in his backyard.
“I don’t know anyone who I have more nice things to say about,” Burke said of Dave.
Bernat is a close second. Burke has raved about Bernat’s complete game, vibrant personality and relentless competitiveness since he first recruited her from Castellon, Spain, to Tulane. Bernat, who followed Burke to Manhattan, Kansas, two summers ago, put those many traits on display Saturday.
It was initially a slow build. Bernat played her first seven holes in 1 under. Meanwhile, teenager Asterisk Talley holed out for eagle on the first hole to tie the lead, and then Woad nearly did the same two groups later, tapping in for birdie to become the first competitor to reach double-figures.
But with back-to-back birdies, at Nos. 8 and 9, Bernat raced into the solo lead.
“I just tried to play a pretty good nine holes,” Bernat said, “and I knew the tournament started on No. 10, so when I hit the second shot on No. 10, I was like, ‘Damn.’”
With just a wedge in her hand, Bernat hit arguably her only poor shot of the round, pushing her approach well right, even missing the large greenside bunker and nearly finding the bushes.
“When I saw that shot, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s double bogey,’” said Andrea Revuelta, Bernat’s fellow Spaniard who completed her final-round pairing.
Luckily for Bernat, she had been preparing for such a moment, her short game reaching new heights – literally – in recent months. Since arriving at Kansas State, Bernat has often challenged Steve Gotsche, the head pro at Colbert Hills who formerly played on the PGA Tour, to short-game competitions. If there was one shot that Bernat struggled most, in Gotsche’s eyes, it was the high, soft chip.
That’s where Josele Ballester comes in. Ballester is the reigning U.S. Amateur champion who will make his Masters debut next week, and he was neighbors with Bernat when they were younger, attending the same high school and both working with instructor Victor Garcia, the father of former Masters champion Sergio Garcia, after transitioning from being tennis players.
Standing over her tricky 30-yard chip over a bunker on Saturday afternoon, the ANWA title hanging in the balance, Bernat thought about some advice that Ballester had given her late last year.
“I was like, if there was one shot that you’re going to need the hands back to hit it higher, as he tells me, it’s this one,” Bernat said. “So yeah, I appreciate that tip.”
Bernat delivered a beautiful strike that floated in the air, landing just on the green and running up to about 15 feet below the hole. When Bernat curled in the putt, Jose Maria Olazabal, who was glued to the television inside Augusta National’s clubhouse, couldn’t help but cheer.
“Unbelievable,” Olazabal said of the pivotal par save. “That was huge. That kept her momentum. That was the only mistake she made pretty much on the back nine, and she made the putt.”
Woad was in between clubs at the par-4 10th hole Saturday at Augusta National. She made the wrong decision, and it proved costly.
Woad wasn’t so fortunate on No. 10, accidentally over-clubbing and flying her approach, with 5-iron, into the bushes. After taking an unplayable, Woad carded double bogey to suddenly fall three shots behind.
Bernat’s caddie, Kansas State assistant Rinko Mitsunaga, who played her college golf at nearby Georgia, had been telling Bernat all day to not look at the leaderboards. “Just focus on yourself, and we’ll be fine,” Mitsunaga would say. But Bernat couldn’t help herself, and so, after Woad’s shocking double, Bernat knew it was her tournament to lose.
Then she thought about Dave Cox.
While walking to her ball in the fairway at the par-5 13th, Bernat, fruit in hand (a banana that Burke had fetched for her a couple holes earlier), passed some azaleas and was nearly overwhelmed thinking about what Cox would be texting her. Carol guessed that whatever the message, it would’ve begun with, Way to go, girl!
“My coach and I, we almost cried,” Bernat said. “But yeah, we got it together.”
Bernat birdied that hole after hitting the green in two, and then she got up and down for another birdie at the par-5 15th, the latter seeming like the clincher. Only Talley was making a late charge in the group ahead, birdieing Nos. 16 and 17, and getting in the clubhouse at 11 under.
When Bernat couldn’t save par from the greenside bunker at the par-4 17th, that left her just a shot clear standing on the par-4 18th tee. Revuelta was impressed at how little defense Bernat played over the final round, and though Bernat was the most nervous she’d been all day, she still chose the aggressive line, drawing her tee ball just past the tree line on the right and into the fairway.
Before striking her winning putt, a nervy, downhill 4-footer, Bernat took one last glance at the leaderboard.
“I was like, you need to knock this in because she’s right behind you,” Bernat said. “Yeah, and I did it.”
After missing the cut in her ANWA debut two years ago, Bernat immediately dialed Callaway to help fit her for new equipment, clubs that would help her hit the ball higher. Then last year, she was the only player to break 70 amid brutal conditions in the second round at Champions Retreat; she’d follow with a 72 and T-17 finish at Augusta National.
Burke calls Bernat the “ultimate underdog,” a two-time, second-team All-American who somehow, Burke wonders, has never been named to an Annika Award watch list. When she teed off Saturday morning, she was the lowest-ranked player in the final three pairings – at No. 29 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
But after firing a closing 68 and beating Woad, who shot 72 and finished solo third in her ANWA defense, by three shots?
“I think she’s finally shed that label,” Burke said.
As Bernat walked through a sea of patrons, Olazabal had ventured outside of scoring to wait for his countrywoman, who joins Olazabal, Garcia, Seve Ballesteros and Jon Rahm as champions at Augusta National. When Bernat made eye contact, she raced over for a hug.
Bernat had only met Olazabal once before, last year at this tournament, and she mispronounced his last name, saying “Larrazabal” instead.
“He’s like, ‘That’s not me,’” Bernat recalled. “And I’m like, ‘I’m sorry.’”
Bernat’s name will be immortalized alongside this tournament forever. Carol Cox will certainly never forget it. In fact, when it comes to moments in her life, Cox said watching Bernat win Saturday at Augusta National ranked near the top.
“To see this happen to her is…”
Cox couldn’t finish, the emotions too much. A few minutes later, Bernat came over to the rope line, gave Cox and her daughter hugs and delivered a lasting message.
“This is for him.”
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