Match play magnificence for Madelene — A new ANWA champion
The IX: Golf Thursday with Marin Dremock, April 10, 2025
After over 100 holes of match play golf, Madelene Sagstrom outlasted a bracket of 64 golfers in the 2025 T-Mobile Match Play at Shadow Creek Golf Course. She beat Lauren Coughlin in the final round 1-up.
Continue reading with a subscription to The IX
Get unlimited access to our exclusive coverage of a varitety of women’s sports, including our premium newsletter by subscribing today!
Already a member?
Login
Welcome back to Golf Thursday, fans.
Both Sagstrom and Coughlin battled in matches that extended beyond 18 holes throughout the week. Sagstrom saw four 18-plus hole matches, while Coughlin played six. Their battle in the final match lasted the full 18 holes with several lead flips, but ultimately, it was Sagstrom’s day.
“It was hard. I got really tired and it kind of mentally hit me,” Sagstrom said in a press conference after her win. “I decided I needed an emergency banana in the bunker on 10, and then I started chugging water because I was like, I need something to spike me back here.”
The match started with both players making par to keep it at a tie through the first hole. Sagstrom then won holes No. 2, 4, 5 and 6 to go 4–up through six holes. But Coughlin wasn’t done. The Virginia native won the next three holes to cut Sagstrom’s lead to 1-up.
On the back nine, the match flipped as Coughlin won the 11th hole to tie the match and then the 12th hole to take the lead 1-up. Sagstrom then responded by winning the 13th hole to tie the match.
The drama escalated when the players tied both Nos. 14 and 15. It was getting down to the wire, and something had to give.
Sagstrom took the 16th hole to secure a 1-up lead again. After pars from both Coughlin and Sagstrom on Nos. 17 and 18, the match was solidified. Sagstrom came out on top, defeating Coughlin 1-up. The nerves of match play were high.
“It feels amazing,” Sagstrom said after the win. “I kind of forget what it feels like, and today it’s like you really can’t relax or feel like you’re out of it at any point. Even when I’m standing there when Lauren is putting her last putt and just like I need to prepare for her to make this. I’m expecting her to make this and let’s go for a playoff.”
This win was one of a different caliber, as these match play tournaments usually are. Your mind and body are pushed to their limits with multiple matches a day. Being in the semi or even the quarterfinals is an accomplishment, but to emerge victorious over the 64-player field takes a different kind of grit.
“It’s probably going to feel very rewarding eventually. Right now I’m just very tired,” Sagstrom said in the post-win press conference. “But it’s been such hard work for such a long time. It just proves it’s hard to win out here. Everyone is so good. It’s just incredible.”
The rollercoaster of a match was partly due to this tournament fatigue. The sheer amount of holes these players had to play within a short span of days took a toll on bodies all around. Sagstrom found herself missing the fairway in all kinds of directions.
“When the body gets tired I felt there that I got closer to my tendencies, which then kind of hurt me. So I stood over every shot from probably 12 tee and I was like, this is the most important shot you hit in your life,” Sagstrom reflected after the win. “I also knew that one shot at a time, do it the best you can. You’re tired, your body knows you’re tired. Try not to fall into these habits too much.”
This win is Sagstrom’s second on the LPGA Tour and her first since 2020 at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. She joins fellow Swedes with two or more victories on the LPGA Tour. (A long way to catch up to Annika Sorenstam’s 72 wins, but never say never.) Sagstrom also is the first player in T-Mobile Match Play history to finish the week with a record of 7-0-0.
The LPGA is off this week, so sit back and enjoy The Masters. I’ll see you right back here next week for some more women’s golf.
The Next, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom
The Next: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.
Readers of The IX now save 50% on their subscription to The Next.
This week in women’s golf
LPGA News
Sagstrom wins T-Mobile Match Play over Coughlin to earn first title in nearly 1,900 days
Day three results: 2025 T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards
Day two results: 2025 T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards
Making moves: Hyo Joo Kim moves up 19 spots in Rolex Rankings
Yuka Saso among eight champions exempt for U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally
Day 1 results: 2025 T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards
LET News
Rhodes eyes historic hat-trick
Promising start for Sweden’s Arwefjall
Cape Town hosts next stop on the LET circuit
Pre-Qualifier for 2025 Investec SA Women’s Open complete
Rookie Rhodes secures back-to-back wins
Epson Tour News
Epson Tour Race for the Card heats up following Florida stretch
Epson Tour alumni spotlight: Gigi Stoll
Amateur/NCAA News
Spaniard Carla Bernat Escuder earns major championship exemptions with 2025 ANWA victory
LPGA*USGA Girls Golf update: Champions crowned at Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals
Carla Bernat Escuder earns two points in LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway standings
Carla Bernat Escuder exemplifies Spanish brilliance at Augusta National
Want women’s hockey content? Subscribe to The Ice Garden!
Here at The IX, we’re collaborating with The Ice Garden to bring you Hockey Friday. And if you want the women’s hockey goodness 24/7? Well, you should subscribe to The Ice Garden now!
Five at The IX: 21-year-old Spaniard Carla Bernat Escuder wins the 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur
An unreal week at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur came to a close on Saturday, April 5 when a new champion was crowned. Kansas State senior Carla Bernat Escuder captured the coveted title, joining the exemplary list of Spaniards who have won at the historic course. Bernat Escuder set a new tournament scoring record with a 12-under-par total. She shot 68 (-4) in all three rounds of the championship (two at Champions Retreat and one at Augusta National). Bernat Escuder confidently downed a testy five-foot par putt to outlast 16-year-old Asterisk Talley by one stroke. Here are some quotable moments from her press conference after the win.
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a privilege to welcome our 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion, Carla Bernat Escuder.
Carla, congratulations on your victory. Your poise and skill were on display all afternoon. We were certainly there when that approach shot at No. 9 we thought was going in and the incredible up-and-down on No. 10.
Can you describe your emotions once that final putt dropped on the last hole and you became our newest Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion?
CARLA BERNAT ESCUDER: It’s hard to describe with words, but I was just so happy and relieved that I made the putt because I saw on a scoreboard there was one girl that was just one shot behind me. So I was like, you need to make this. So yeah, happy.
Q. I’m wondering about your friendship with Sergio and José Maria Olazábal and what that means to you and some of the advice they might have given you for this particular championship.
CARLA BERNAT ESCUDER: I know Sergio more than José María. José María, it’s just a good symbol for Spain of what golf means and how to act on the golf course. Sergio, I played with him once when I was back in Spain. We don’t have a really close relationship, but his dad is my coach. I can now feel that I know him.
Q. You were one of six Spaniards in the field this week and you played with Andrea today. Did you draw any strength from the presence of all of you in the field and the backing of Spanish golf tradition?
CARLA BERNAT ESCUDER: It was really nice playing with her. It made it feel like we were not in Augusta, either. It was like we were playing when we were 15 back in the day.
I think we’re becoming better and better, Spaniards. We have a really good group of swing coaches that help us push each other, too.
Q. You seemed to be very composed on the way around, a lot of smiling, as if you were not actually in the final of such an important event. Are you either very good at controlling your emotions, or are you indeed a very calm person?
CARLA BERNAT ESCUDER: I feel that I am pretty calm in hard moments, in like under-stress moments. I also really tried to enjoy this round with my coach because it’s going to be the last one. I’m turning pro this next summer. So I was really focused on smiling and just enjoying Augusta because it’s the best golf course in the world.
Q. In the trophy ceremony, you mentioned that your caddie is the real reason you won. Can you expand on that?
CARLA BERNAT ESCUDER: Well, so I am really hard to deal with sometimes on the golf course with. I get nervous, and I’m — like where is my ball, but as soon as I get to the golf ball, it’s fine, but she’s the one that walks with me to the golf ball. So she’s the one that listens to me complaining, oh, that was a bad shot, what was that, you know.
Yeah, she does a really good job listening to me and kind of reassuring me all the time. Without that, I don’t think I could have won.
| Mondays: Soccer |
| By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer |
| Tuesdays: Tennis |
| By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer |
| Wednesdays: Basketball |
| By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next |
| Thursdays: Golf |
| By: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX |
| Fridays: Hockey |
| By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden |
| Saturdays: Gymnastics |
| By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer |
