Madrid golf continues to accumulate triumphs this season, this time in the Spanish Under 16 Pitch & Putt Championship which was successfully held at the Barbanza Golf course in A Coruña, which concluded with the young Miguel García and Carla Barrio leading their respective classifications.

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Special mention, in both cases, for their evident precocity, since the two new Spanish Under 16 Pitch & Putt champions have overcome older and, consequently, more experienced rivals, a handicap that both Miguel García, in the under-12 category, and Carla Barrio, in the under-14 category, have overcome with proven competence.

Also noteworthy are the top-ranked athletes in the different age groups after the two days of competition: Antón Pérez from Galicia and Natalia Rodríguez from Cantabria, the best cadets (15-16 years old); Gonzalo Bravo from Cantabria and Carla Barrio from Madrid, the best children (13-14 years old); Miguel García from Madrid and Cristina García from Castile and León, the best juniors (11-12 years old).

Miguel García, a decisive seven under par to win the title

Seven under par, no less than seven under par, was the impressive score that propelled Miguel García to the lead after the first round. The astonishing performance of the young golfer from Madrid drew widespread praise from all those present, who were amazed by the incredibly effective play of a player who stole the show thanks to his sensational string of shots.

The Madrid native, with a memorable 47 strokes, built a solid six-stroke lead over a group of four players who were sharing second place at that point: Juan Arrebola, Eduardo Villarejo, Pablo Sordo, and Javier Ramos. All of them also finished under par, in their case by one stroke, but they fell far short of Miguel García's spectacular performance.

In the second and final round, the Madrid golfer slightly toned down his performance, completing the 18 holes with a very commendable 56 strokes, 2 over par for a total of 103, which was enough to win him the title.

Galician Antón Pérez, also extraordinary, gave his best to trouble the new champion until the last moment, achieving in his case two outstanding rounds of 55 and 50 strokes that earned him, with 105, only two more than Miguel García, the runner-up position in the Spanish Pitch & Putt Championship.

Four other players, three of them tied with 106 strokes in third place - the Cantabrian Gonzalo Bravo, the Madrid native Daniel Martínez and the Galician Daniel Varela - and the fourth, also Galician Javier Ramos, in his case sixth classified with 107 strokes, were the participants with the ability to lower the par of the course, good proof of the quality that they all possess within.

Shared leadership in the women's category

In the women's category, the equality, and therefore the uncertainty related to the resolution of the tournament, was going to be much greater after the first 18 holes, when the differences between the main candidates for the title were narrow.

However, Carla Barrio from Madrid, co-leader after the first round, was responsible for disproving that assertion based on an effective and forceful game that led her to surpass the second and third ranked players, Ainoa Ruiz from Valencia and Natalia Rodríguez from Cantabria, by five and six strokes, respectively.

The day before, the top positions were concentrated among a large number of players capable of winning the title in the second and final 18 holes.

Daniela Montolio from Catalonia and Carla Barrio from Madrid shared first place with scores of 55 strokes each. However, nothing was decided, as a large group of rivals were close behind, all with a chance to overturn the final standings.

This was the case for Ainoa Ruiz from Valencia or Natalia Rodríguez from Cantabria, waiting with 57 strokes, only two more than the co-leaders at that moment, an advantage that seemed short but that the new Spanish Under 16 Pitch & Putt champion managed to increase in the second 18 holes through an exquisite performance, of 53 strokes, the only result under par in the women's tournament that led her at full speed to embrace the title at stake.

Tenth edition of a successful tournament

This has been the tenth edition of this Spanish Under 16 Pitch & Putt Championship, a tournament that celebrates a golf specialty that is booming in our country and that brings together players in the Under 12 (11 and 12 years old), Under 14 (13 and 14 years old) and Under 16 (15 and 16 years old) categories.

Cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, the previous edition of this tournament was held in 2019 at Bil Bil Golf, where Álvaro Revuelta from Madrid and Isabel Mas from Castellón were crowned champions. Additionally, Juan Miró from Castellón and Andrea Revuelta from Madrid were the top finishers in the Benjamin category that year.

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