Spain's Barquin wins European Ladies Amateur

SENICA, Slovakia (July 28, 2018) – In the end, it was largely a two-woman race at Penati Golf Resort. Over the final 18 holes of the European Ladies Amateur, Celia Barquin and Esther Henseleit pulled away from their chasers. Spaniard Barquin finished on top by one shot.

Barquin’s victory can be largely credited to her third-round 9-under 63, a course record at Penati’s Heritage Course. It can also be credited to the fact that she didn’t have a bogey in the second half of the 72-hole event. She was at 16-under 272 while Henseleit, of Germany, was at 15 under. Henseleit led after the first two rounds.

With the victory, Barquin becomes the third Spanish player to win this event in the past five years. She also earns an exemption into the 2019 Ricoh Women’s British Open.

Barquin, who turned 22 early this month, recently capped a decorated career at Iowa State. She was the Cyclones’ leading scorer this season, won the Big 12 individual title and was named the Iowa State Female Athlete of the Year.

A pair of Italians tied for third at 9 under. Angelica Moresco and Alessia Nobilio both opened with rounds of 5-under 67 but fell off the pace from there. Moresco was on the Alabama women’s golf team that finished runner-up at the NCAA Women’s Championship this spring. Nobilio was fourth at the Italian International Women’s Amateur earlier this year.

Other notable finishers include Olivia Mehaffey, the Arizona State standout who carried Great Britian and Ireland in the Curtis Cup. Mehaffey, of Belfast, Ireland, put together steady rounds of 70-71-71-70 to finish 6 under and in solo seventh. Defending champion Agathe Laisne, a Frenchwoman who recently completed her freshman season at the University of Texas, fell off the pace with a final-round 77. She was 15th at 2 under.