| María Hernández | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Full name | María Hernández Muñoz | ||||||||
| Born | (1986-03-24)24 March 1986 (age 39) | ||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) | ||||||||
| Sporting nationality |  Spain | ||||||||
| Residence | Spain | ||||||||
| Career | |||||||||
| College | Purdue University | ||||||||
| Turned professional | 2009 | ||||||||
| Current tours | LPGA Tour (joined 2010) Ladies European Tour (joined 2010) | ||||||||
| Professional wins | 1 | ||||||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||||||
| Ladies European Tour | 1 | ||||||||
| Best results in LPGA major championships | |||||||||
| Chevron Championship | T52: 2011 | ||||||||
| Women's PGA C'ship | CUT: 2010, 2012, 2015 | ||||||||
| U.S. Women's Open | T41: 2010 | ||||||||
| Women's British Open | T14: 2010 | ||||||||
| Evian Championship | CUT: 2015 | ||||||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||||||
| |||||||||
María Hernández Muñoz (born 24 March 1986) is a Spanishprofessional golfer on the U.S.-basedLPGA Tour andLadies European Tour. She won the 2010Ladies Slovak Open and while atPurdue, she was theNCAA Individual Champion and won theHonda Sports Award.
Hernández started playing golf at 12 and had a successful amateur career. An eight-year member of the Spanish National Team, Hernández is a five-time European Team Championship gold medalist, and earned a gold medal at the2005 Mediterranean Games both individually and as a team. She won the 2003Junior Solheim Cup and was runner-up at the 2004European Ladies Amateur Championship and again in 2008, losing a playoff toCarlota Ciganda. She was a semi-finalist atThe Womens Amateur Championship 2005 and 2006.[1]
Hernández turned in a strong collegiate career atPurdue University, which was capped off with the 2009NCAA Division I Individual Champion andNCAA Player of the Year award.[2] She won 13 times while with thePurdue Boilermakers, and in 2008, she won theBig Ten Conference Championship and was named the Purdue Female Athlete of the Year. She is a two-time Big Ten Conference Player of the Year, both in 2007 and 2008, and a two-time All-American First Team selection.[3]
Hernández turned professional in June 2009. She finished sixth at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, earning her card for the2010 LPGA Tour with ease. Her rookie season were also to be her most successful season. She won theLadies Slovak Open on theLadies European Tour and finished tied 14th in the2010 Women's British Open, reaching a career peak of 112th place in theWomen's World Golf Rankings.[4]
Plagued by injuries, Hernández battled through spine and neck problems, a herniated disk, bacterial infections, ulcer on her colon, liver failure and other medical issues. She was forced to a break from golf, in danger of being crippled. She contracted a parasite in China, which the doctors couldn’t properly diagnose, and she kept getting sick over the next two years. The ulcer made her intolerant of fructose, glucose and gluten.[5][6]
She was runner-up in the 2014Lacoste Ladies Open de France, losing by one stroke to compatriotAzahara Muñoz. From 2019 she focused on the LET, where she was tied 3rd at the 2021Estrella Damm Ladies Open and 2022Joburg Ladies Open, before finishing runner-up at the 2023Belgian Ladies Open, two strokes behindPatricia Isabel Schmidt.
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory | Runner-up | Winner's share (€) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 May2010 | Ladies Slovak Open | 72-69-69-70=280 | −8 | 1 stroke |  Kristie Smith | 52,500 |
Amateur
