Gwladys Nocera

Gwladys Nocera (born 22 May 1975) is a French professional golfer who formerly played on the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour.

Amateur career
Nocera was born in Moulins, Allier. She is of Portuguese descent. She had a successful amateur career. She finished runner up at the 1998 British Ladies Amateur Championship, was a member of the victorious European championship French team in 1999 and the youngest ever winning captain in the 2000 Espirito Santo Trophy (World Amateur Golf Team Championships). She was a playing member of the 2002 French Espirito Santo Trophy team.

She was runner up at the 2002 French Amateur Championship, 2002 French International Champion and 2002 German International champion. She holds a degree in international business from New Mexico State University.

Professional career
Nocera turned professional at the relatively late age of twenty-seven and finished ninth at the 2002 Ladies European Tour Qualifying School to win a place on the tour for the following season. After a modest start she improved dramatically in 2005, when she finished fourth on the Order of Merit and made her Solheim Cup debut where she beat Cristie Kerr in her singles match.

In 2006 her career took another upward turn. She started the year representing France at the Women's World Cup of Golf with Karine Icher. She scored her first three Ladies European Tour tournament victories at the Ladies Swiss Open, the BMW Ladies Italian Open and the Catalonia Ladies Masters. She also played in her first women's major tournament, the Kraft Nabisco Championship. She finished second on the New Star Money list being beaten only by Laura Davies the holder of the record number of money list wins and was voted Players’ Player of the Year by her fellow Ladies European Tour professionals.

On 20 January 2008, at the fourth Women's World Cup of Golf in Sun City, South Africa, team France with Nocera and Virginie Lagoutte-Clément finished fifth, seven shots behind winning South Korean team Jiyai Shin and Ji Eun-hee over 54 holes.

In 2009, Nocera earned her LPGA Tour card at LPGA Q-School and at the age of 34 was a rookie and an LPGA Tour member the following season. She played the LPGA Tour full-time in 2010 and 2011, reaching a career best second place at the 2010 CVS/Pharmacy LPGA Challenge.

LET 72-hole scoring record
Nocera won the 2008 Göteborg Masters by an 11 stroke margin after scoring 259 (−29) following rounds of 66-62-65-66, the best 72-hole score in the LET's 40-year history. The bogey-free round of 62 is only one stroke off the LET single round scoring record of 61 (−11).

Source:

Amateur wins

 * 2002 French International Ladies Amateur Championship, German International Championship

Team appearances
Amateur
 * European Ladies' Team Championship (representing France): 1997, 1999 (winners), 2001
 * Espirito Santo Trophy (representing France): 2000 (non-playing captain, winners), 2002

Professional
 * Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2005, 2007, 2009, 2015
 * World Cup (representing France): 2006, 2007, 2008
 * The Queens (representing Europe): 2015, 2017 (captain)