AUBURN, Ala. – When Elena Hualde Zúñiga hit her wedge shot inches from the hole for a tap-in birdie, it was up to her opponent to match with a birdie putt. If she made it, they'd go to the next hole. If she missed, Auburn would win the SEC Women's Golf Championship.
The putt veered left of the hole. Hualde Zúñiga threw her hands up in celebration. She was an SEC champion.
"It's been a goal of ours since we got here," she said. "It doesn't feel real. All of the hard work, our 6 a.m. workouts, those tough practices – they were all worth it."
At this same time last year, Hualde Zúñiga was in lockdown in her home country of Spain, unsure if she would ever play golf at Auburn again.
Fortunately, the seniors from a year ago were granted an extra year of eligibility, and when the decision was passed, there was no hesitation from Hualde Zúñiga.
"I knew I had to come back," she said. "I wanted to play for my team, for my coaches, and obviously, for myself. I didn't have that opportunity in 2020, so I wasn't going to let it go by in 2021."
For Hualde Zúñiga, the past year has been a roller coaster of emotions that has required lots of plans and backup plans.
It started on March 12, 2020, when head coach Melissa Luellen received an email from Auburn saying the Tigers couldn't play in their upcoming tournament because of the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Two hours later, the team was informed the university would be shutting down until April. Then three hours after that, the NCAA announced the cancellation of all spring sports.
"It was really upsetting, especially because it was all within five hours and no one saw any of that coming," Hualde Zúñiga said. "The most upsetting thing for me was not having a national championship to play for. That's the reason I came to the States to play golf. I could've had a career in Spain, but I wanted to play for a national championship."
The pandemic forced her hand, as it did to so many other international student-athletes across the nation, and when the university shut down, Hualde Zúñiga made the decision to return to Spain and spend the majority of the time in lockdown with her family.
The lockdown in Spain was much different than what Americans were experiencing across the Atlantic. For two months straight, Hualde Zúñiga, her three siblings and her parents were stuck inside their home with only one parent permitted to leave at a time to go to the grocery store.
That meant no golf from the moment her season was canceled in March through June when Spain lifted some of its lockdown regulations.
"As a golfer, I had to learn just to keep working," Hualde Zúñiga said. "I had to be strong-minded and not think that being in lockdown was going to make me worse while other people were still working hard."
If anything, the lockdown made her appreciate spending time with her family, but come June, she was ready to get outside and play golf again.
With the uncertainty surrounding fall sports and the 2020-21 season, Hualde Zúñiga chose to stay in Spain for the entire fall semester, working on her golf game to help prepare her for the spring with Auburn and her quickly approaching professional career.
"It was hard watching the team in the fall because I obviously wanted to be there," she said. "But it was exciting to cheer for them and see how good they were."
In January, Hualde Zúñiga returned to Auburn for the first time since last March. Though she hadn't seen her coaches and teammates in nine months, it was like she never left. She fell right back into place. The biggest changes came with the mask mandates, social distancing, COVID testing and all of the other new protocols within athletics.
"Honestly, I felt like a freshman having to ask everyone else what to do and where we could go," Hualde Zúñiga said. "It felt like I was starting over."
On the course, however, she picked up where she left off. Luellen first put Hualde Zúñiga in the lineup at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic last month, and the fifth-year senior responded with a 72 (E) in her first round back.
After a top-50 finish in that event, Hualde Zúñiga placed in a tie for 14th two weeks later at the LSU Tiger Golf Classic. Then, in the stroke play portion of the SEC championship, she shot 6-under (69-73-68=210) to help propel Auburn into match play.
In the championship match against Mississippi State, it was fitting to have Hualde Zúñiga clinch the match for the Tigers and secure the 10th conference title in program history.
"She was my very first recruit when I came to Auburn, and she's kind of been the template of what I want to recruit," Luellen said. "She's played a lot of international competitions representing Spain and team competitions, so she absolutely loves team. She's really matured into a great leader for us."
As her time at Auburn winds down, Hualde Zúñiga is excited about what the future holds and the possibility of beginning her professional career with hopes of one day earning her LPGA Tour card. She also has her heart set on representing Spain in the 2023 Solheim Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games. But regardless what happens, she will never forget her time on The Plains.
"I will always be proud to be an Auburn Tiger, and Auburn will always have something special in me," she said. "Auburn has changed everything – me as a person and me as a golfer. Thank you to Auburn Athletics and everyone that made this possible."
The journey is not over yet either. Winning the SEC title was quite an achievement, but Hualde Zúñiga came back to win a national championship. The next step toward that begins next month, May 10-12, at the NCAA Louisville Regional.
"Winning (the SEC title) was just the first step toward the NCAA Championship," she said. "When we left the SEC tournament, we told each other, 'We can beat anyone out there.' Now we know if we believe in ourselves and we keep fighting, we can get to where we want."
