Virginia Elena Carta

Last updated

Virginia Elena Carta
Personal information
Born (1996-12-24) 24 December 1996 (age 25)
Milan, Italy
Height5 ft 5 in (2 m)
Sporting nationalityFlag of Italy.svg  Italy
Career
College Duke University
Cambridge University
Turned professional2021
Current tour(s) Ladies European Tour (joined 2022)
Best results in LPGA major championships
ANA Inspiration DNP
Women's PGA C'ship DNP
U.S. Women's Open CUT: 2017
Women's British Open DNP
Evian Championship DNP
Achievements and awards
Honda Sports Award 2016

Virginia Elena Carta (born 24 December 1996) is an Italian professional golfer who plays on the Ladies European Tour. In 2016, she received the Honda Sports Award after winning the NCAA Women's Championship.

Contents

Amateur career

Carta was born in Milan on Christmas Eve in 1996 and grew up in Udine, Italy, where she was introduced to golf by her mother at a young age. [1]

She became a member of the Italian National Team in 2010, and won the 2012 European Young Masters in a team with Renato Paratore. She won silver at the 2014 European Girls' Team Championship in Slovakia, and at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing she finished T4 individually and won the mixed team bronze with Renato Paratore.

Carta was successful in tournaments across Europe and won the Austrian International Amateur, German Girls Open, Slovenian Amateur Championship, French International Lady Juniors Amateur Championship and the French International Ladies Amateur Championship. [2]

She played in both Annika Invitational Europe and Annika Invitational USA, and recruited Annika Sörenstam as her mentor. [1]

In 2015, she accepted a golf scholarship to Duke University. As a freshman, she won the 2016 NCAA Women's Championship individually with an NCAA record score of 272 (−16), and won the 2016 Honda Sports Award as Player of the Year nationally. [3] She fell to Seong Eun-jeong in the final of the 2016 U.S. Women's Amateur, 1 up. Invited to play the 2016 LPGA Marathon Classic she made the cut, but missed the cut in the 2017 U.S. Women's Open.

Carta battled injury during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 academic years, and won only the 2017 The Landfall Tradition, before winning the 2019 NCAA Women's Championship with the Duke Blue Devils women's golf team. [4] She is one of only 20 golfers in NCAA history, male or female, to win both an NCAA Individual and team championship. [5]

After graduating from Duke in 2019, Carta made the unusual decision to defer qualifying for the LPGA Tour for a year, instead opting to do a Master's degree in Environmental Policy at Cambridge University, England. She planned to enter LPGA Q-School in 2020, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving her without tour status. [6]

Professional career

Carta turned professional in 2021 and received six invitations to events on the Ladies European Tour. She missed the cut at her first event as a professional, the Ladies Italian Open, but soon finished T5 at the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open and T6 at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France. She finished T19 at LET Q-School in December to secure playing rights for the 2022 season. [7]

In 2022, she held a two-stroke lead at the Santander Golf Tour Málaga ahead of the final day, but produced a final score of 72 to finish runner-up, one stroke behind Sára Kousková. [8]

Amateur wins

Source: [2]

Team appearances

Amateur

Source: [2]

Related Research Articles

Annika Sörenstam Swedish American golfer

Annika Charlotta Sörenstam is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name. She has won 72 official LPGA tournaments including ten majors and 18 other tournaments internationally, and she tops the LPGA's career money list with earnings of over $22 million—over $2 million ahead of her nearest rival while playing 187 fewer events. Since 2006, Sörenstam has held dual American and Swedish citizenship.

Trish Johnson English professional golfer

Patricia Mary "Trish" Johnson is an English professional golfer.

Charlotta Petra Sörenstam is a retired Swedish professional golfer. As an amateur competing for the Texas Longhorns, she won the NCAA Division I Championship individual title. As a professional, she won one tournament on the LPGA Tour and represented Europe in the Solheim Cup. Her elder sister by three years, Annika, is a Hall of Fame golfer.

Amy Yang South Korean professional golfer

Amy Yang, also known as Yang Hee-Young is a Korean professional golfer, currently playing on the United States-based LPGA Tour and on the Ladies European Tour (LET).

Anna Nordqvist Swedish professional golfer

Anna Maria Nordqvist is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. She has won three major championships: the 2009 LPGA Championship, the 2017 Evian Championship, and the 2021 Women's British Open. She is the only non-American woman to have won major championships in three different decades

Marta Figueras-Dotti is a retired Spanish professional golfer.

Michiko Hattori is a Japanese professional golfer and former Player of the Year on the LPGA of Japan Tour. Before turning professional, she became the first Japanese born champion of the U.S. Women's Amateur.

Leona Maguire Irish professional golfer

Leona Maguire is an Irish professional golfer.

Caroline Hedwall Swedish professional golfer

Caroline Ingrid Hedwall is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LPGA Tour. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

Nanna Koerstz Madsen is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the American LPGA Tour and maintains membership of the Ladies European Tour (LET). She won the 2022 Honda LPGA Thailand and made history becoming the first Dane to win an LPGA Tour event. She played in the 2021 Solheim Cup and represented Denmark at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where she finished tied for 13th, and at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where she finished tied for 9th.

Linnea Ström is a Swedish professional golfer. She joined the U.S.-based LPGA Tour after graduating from the Symetra Tour as 2018 Rookie of the Year.

Céline Boutier French professional golfer

Céline Boutier is a French professional golfer.

María Fassi is a Mexican professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour.

Patty Tavatanakit Thai professional golfer

Paphangkorn "Patty" Tavatanakit is a Thai professional golfer who began competing on the LPGA Tour in January 2020. On 4 April 2021, Tavatanakit accomplished her first win on the LPGA Tour – the 2021 ANA Inspiration, a major championship in women's professional golf. In October 2021, Tavatanakit was named the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year for the LPGA Tour in 2021.

Morgane Métraux is a Swiss professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour (LET). In 2021, she won the Symetra Tour's Island Resort Championship, which helped her graduate to the LPGA Tour. In 2022, she won the Ladies Italian Open.

María Parra Luque is a professional golfer from Spain who played on the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour already as a teenager. She won the 2015 European Ladies Amateur and rose to No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Veronika Beatrice Wallin is a Swedish professional golfer. She won the 2016 Annika Invitational Europe and won the European Ladies' Team Championship in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Olivia Mehaffey is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland.

Dewi Weber is a Dutch professional golfer playing on the LPGA Tour.

Sára Kousková Czech professional golfer

Sára Kousková is a Czech professional golfer. In 2021 she won the Amundi Czech Ladies Challenge to become the first Czech amateur to win a professional event.

References

  1. 1 2 "Brains & Birdies: A Winning Formula For Virginia Elena Carta". Duke Blue Devils. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Player Profile Virginia Elena Carta". World Amateur Golf Ranking.
  3. "Past Honda Sports Award Winners For Golf". Collegiate Women Sports Association. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  4. "Duke senior Virginia Elena Carta begins, ends career with national championships". Golfweek. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  5. "2018-19 Women's Golf Roster". Duke University. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  6. "Italy's Carta deferring pro golf career for education". Toledo Blade. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  7. "Carta Set to Make Professional Debut on LET". Duke University. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  8. "Kouskova Wins In Thrilling Spanish Finale". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 24 July 2022.