Virginia Elena Carta (born 24 December 1996) is an Italian

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

. In 2016, she received the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

after winning the NCAA Women's Championship.

Amateur career

Carta was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

on Christmas Eve in 1996 and grew up in

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

, Italy, where she was introduced to golf by her mother at a young age. She became a member of the Italian National Team in 2010, and won the 2012

European Young Masters The European Young Masters is a European amateur mixed team golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, ...

in a team with Renato Paratore. She won silver at the 2014

European Girls' Team Championship The European Girls' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women up to 18 organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1991. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1991 to 1999 and has bee ...

in Slovakia, and at the

2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...

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 The German Boys & Girls Open is an annual international amateur golf tournament in Germany for boys and girls under the age of 18. The tournament, founded in 2004 and held at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot near Heidelberg, is organized by the German Gol ...

, Slovenian Amateur Championship, French International Lady Juniors Amateur Championship and the

French International Ladies Amateur Championship The French International Ladies Amateur Championship, known since 1998 also as the Cécile de Rothschild Trophy, is an annual amateur golf tournament in France for women. This stroke play championship, contested over 54 holes, was first held in 19 ...

. She played in both

Annika Invitational Europe The ANNIKA Invitational Europe is an annual amateur golf tournament in Sweden for European girls under 18. The tournament, founded by Annika Sörenstam in 2012, is a qualifying event for the European team in the Junior Solheim Cup since 2015 a ...

and Annika Invitational USA, and recruited

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) 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 inter ...

as her mentor. In 2015, she accepted a golf scholarship to

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. As a freshman, she won the 2016 NCAA Women's Championship individually with an NCAA record score of 272 (−16), and won the 2016

as Player of the Year nationally. She fell to

Seong Eun-jeong Seong Eun-jeong (born 31 October 1999) is a South Korean professional golfer. Before turning professional, she won the 2016 U.S. Women's Amateur. Her win granted her exemptions into several majors on the LPGA Tour from 2016 to 2017. At the 201 ...

in the final of the 2016

U.S. Women's Amateur The U.S. Women's Amateur is the leading golf tournament in the United States for female amateur golfers. It is played annually and is one of the 13 United States national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association (USGA). F ...

, 1 up. Invited to play the 2016 LPGA

Marathon Classic The Dana Open Presented By Marathon, is a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. It was founded in 1984 and has been played yearly, except in 1986 and 2011, in Sylvania, Ohio, a suburb northwest of Toledo. The tournament is te ...

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. She is one of only 20 golfers in NCAA history, male or female, to win both an NCAA Individual and team championship. After graduating from Duke in 2019, Carta made the unusual decision to defer qualifying for the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

for a year, instead opting to do a Master's degree in Environmental Policy at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, England. She planned to enter LPGA Q-School in 2020, which was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, leaving her without tour status.

Professional career

Carta turned professional in 2021 and received six invitations to events on the

. She missed the cut at her first event as a professional, the

Ladies Italian Open The Ladies Italian Open is a professional golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour held in Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the midd ...

, but soon finished T5 at the

VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open The Ladies Swiss Open is a women's professional golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour that is held in Switzerland. It was first played in 1996 and 1997, the first LET event in Switzerland since the Ladies Swiss Classic (1988–1990). It was ...

and T6 at the

Lacoste Ladies Open de France The Open de France Dames is a women's professional golf tournament in France on the Ladies European Tour. It has been played annually since 1987, with four exceptions: 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1998. Since the 2011 edition, Lacoste has been the tit ...

. She finished T19 at LET Q-School in December to secure playing rights for the 2022 season. In 2022, she held a two-stroke lead at the

Santander Golf Tour Málaga The Santander Golf Tour Málaga is a women's professional golf tournament on Spain's Santander Golf Tour that has featured on the LET Access Series. It was first played in 2018 and is held in Málaga, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de ...

ahead of the final day, but produced a final score of 72 to finish runner-up, one stroke behind

Sára Kousková Sára Kousková (born 2 July 1999) is a Czech professional golfer and Ladies European Tour player. In 2021 she won the Amundi Czech Ladies Challenge to become the first Czech amateur to win a professional event. In October 2022 she continued cre ...

Amateur wins

*2012 Citta di Milano Trofeo Gianni Albertini, Trofeo Umberto Agnelli *2013 Austrian International Amateur *2014

, Slovenian Amateur Championship, French International Lady Juniors Amateur Championship *2016 NCAA Women's Championship (individual) *2017 The Landfall Tradition *2018

Source:

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Italy): 2011, 2012 (winners) *

(representing Italy): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 *

European Ladies' Team Championship The European Ladies' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1959. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been pla ...

(representing Italy):

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Junior Solheim Cup The Junior Solheim Cup is a version of the Solheim Cup for girls aged 12 to 18. It was inaugurated in 2002. It is currently officially called the PING Junior Solheim Cup. The Junior Solheim Cup follows a similar format to The Solheim Cup and featu ...

(representing Europe): 2013 *

Junior Ryder Cup The Junior Ryder Cup is a team golf competition between Europe and the United States for junior golfers aged 18 and under. It is based on the men's Ryder Cup and is run by the same organisations, the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe. The 2018 ...

(representing Europe): 2014 *

Espirito Santo Trophy The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fren ...

(representing Europe):

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Youth Olympic Games The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

(representing Italy):

Vagliano Trophy The Vagliano Trophy is a biennial women's amateur golf tournament. It is co-organised by The R&A and the European Golf Association and is contested by teams representing "Great Britain and Ireland" and the "Continent of Europe". It is played in od ...

(representing Europe): 2017 (winners) Source:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carta, Virginia Elena Italian female golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Duke Blue Devils women's golfers Golfers at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics Sportspeople from Milan 1996 births Living people