Consistency Has Been Key

By: D. Scott Fritchen

She hit the practice course shortly after 6:30 a.m. and ate Panda Express for lunch, but Kansas State junior women's golfer Carla Bernat carries an appetite for winning into the 2024 NCAA Bryan (Texas) Regional next Monday through Wednesday.

Bernat was selected as the top-ranked individual to compete at Traditions Club when selections were announced last Wednesday during the NCAA Women's Golf Selection Show on GOLF Channel.

"It's really exciting," Bernat said in a phone interview on Monday. "I can't wait to play and see how it goes. I've played here before and it's really competitive. The experience is definitely going to help because I know what I need to do. I made some mistakes last year.

"I just need to play my game, as always."

That recipe for success has paid off handsomely for Bernat as she has turned in one of the best individual seasons in the history of K-State women's golf. Her 70.40 scoring average is on pace for the top mark in school history. She has two victories and three top-5 finishes in nine events this season. She posted seven of the team's best 11 rounds, including a 66 in the second round of the Westbrook Invitational, which tied for fourth in school history. She also posted two rounds of 67, which tied for 11^th in school history.

"It's just being really consistent," she said. "I played really good my first three or four tournaments, and then I played really good in other ones, too. Consistency was the key."

Bernat's winning score of 207 at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in March tied for the third-lowest 54-hole score in school history — just three shots off the school record. She also posted a 209 in three other events, which tied for seventh in school history.

She leads the team with 19 rounds of even- or under-par golf. Her 16 under-par rounds are the most by a Wildcat since at least the 2010-11 season.

"It definitely makes my job very straight forward," first-year head coach Stew Burke said. "She always looks to get better. It's a testament to the fact that she knows she hasn't reached her ceiling yet. Her mental game, she's really made big, big progress there, just staying patient when she needs to stay patient and believing she can win tournaments. Her decision making has become even better, too. It's about the mental process and putting things into place to make shots under pressure."

Her hard work has led to national acclaim. Bernat, a native of Castellon, Spain, is currently ranked 27^th in the nation, while she is 25^th in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings released last Wednesday.

"It's really nice," she said. "It just shows I can do it. A number for me isn't the most important, but it shows I need to keep doing it so I can get to where I want to get. I try not to look at the rankings. The most important thing is getting better every day."

The NCAA Bryan Regional is one of six sites that have 12 teams and six individuals. The top five teams and the low individual not on an advancing team from each regional site will advance to play in the National Championships, May 17-22, at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California.

"She's definitely good enough to be that top individual this coming week," Burke said.

Although Bernat has her sights set on scoring victories over the next couple weeks, she also takes a moment to look to next year. K-State came excruciatingly close to making a regional as a team this time around, but the Wildcats weren't picked by the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Selection Committee.

She wants the Wildcats' fortunes to change next year.

"That my main goal for next year is to bring our team with me," she said. "I want us to win as a team. We're close. We're so close. We were all doing good. Just a couple details. I think we're really close, and we're really good. We just need to be patient. This was the year of being patient.

"Next year we're going to show what we're capable of."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Carla Bernat

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