Smyth Salver

An indicator of future greatness, the Smyth Salver is one of most coveted prizes in amateur golf – and it has been won by some of the game’s biggest names.

It has been available at the AIG Women’s Open since 1979 and is awarded to the lowest-scoring amateur to complete four rounds. The very first winner was England’s Sue Hedges at Southport & Ainsdale.

Four Smyth Salver recipients went on to achieve glory in the AIG Women’s Open – Marta Figueras-Dotti (Smyth Salver winner in 1980 and 1982), Anna Nordqvist (2008), Lydia Ko (2012 and 2013) and Georgia Hall (2013).

Georgia [below] – who went on to win the main prize in 2018 – lifted the Smyth Salver at St Andrews, the home of golf, and it remains one of her most cherished moments.

She said: “I have such special memories of the AIG Women’s Open in general and winning the Smyth Salver is where it all started.

“It gave me a lot of confidence to turn pro a couple of years later.

“First of all, to make the cut as an amateur, but then to win the Smyth Salver was pretty cool, and a pretty cool experience to have.

“Another big thing for me was to know that I can actually play links golf pretty well. Back then I didn’t play much on links courses so it was relatively new to me.

“But winning the Smyth Salver that week topped it all.”

Lydia [above] was the first player to win or share the Smyth Salver in successive years, and this achievement was simply a pre-cursor to her unparalleled success.

The New Zealander – who won the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews in 2024 – has gone on to win three majors as well as all three Olympic medals.

When Lydia won the Smyth Salver for the first time, at a weather-beaten Royal Liverpool in 2012, only one player finished under-par; eventual winner Jiyai Shin. And although Lydia was further down the leaderboard, she did finish two shots ahead of two-time Champion Yani Tseng.

If her first Smyth Salver win was impressive, it was nothing compared to the success she enjoyed the following year when, incredibly, she finished as low amateur in four of the five majors, including in the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.

Like Lydia, Anna [above] has become one of the most successful female golfers of all-time, and is the only non-American to have won a women’s major in three different decades.

Anna and Georgia are the only two players to have won the impressive hat-trick of Girls’ Amateur Championship, Women’s Amateur Championship and Smyth Salver.

The Swedish great won the top amateur crown at Sunningdale in 2008, 13 years before winning the AIG Women’s Open at Carnoustie.

Amy Yang (2006) [above, left with Sherri Steinhauer] and Danielle Kang (2011) also claimed the Smyth Salver before going on to achieve major glory, and there are a number of recent winners who have designs on following suit – most notably Leona Maguire (2016), Jeeno Thitikul (2018, 2019), Rose Zhang (2022) and Lottie Woad [top, left] (2024), who sensationally came within one shot of winning the Evian Championship earlier this month.

With just Final Qualifying still to come, there are four amateurs in the field for Royal Porthcawl who will be in line for this year's Smyth Salver – Carla Bernat Escuder, Paula Martin Sampedro, Clarisa Temelo and Jeneath Wong.

Smyth Salver winners:

1979 Sue Hedges
1980 Belle Robertson & Marta Figueras-Dotti
1981 Belle Robertson
1982 Marta Figueras-Dotti
1984 Mary McKenna
1985 Jill Thornhill
1986 Vicki Thomas
1987 Joanne Furby
1988 Kathryn Imrie
1989 Joanne Morley
1990 Sarah Bennett
1991 Akiko Fukushima
1993 Patricia Meunier & Joanne Morley
1994 Tina Fischer
1995 Lisa Dermott
1996 Barbara Heckett
1997 Silvia Cavalleri
1999 Giulia Sergas
2001 Rebecca Hudson
2003 Elisa Serramia
2004 Louise Stahle
2005 Michelle Wie
2006 Amy Yang
2007 Melissa Reid
2008 Anna Nordqvist
2010 Caroline Hedwall
2011 Danielle Kang
2012 Lydia Ko
2013 Georgia Hall & Lydia Ko
2014 Emma Talley
2015 Luna Sobron
2016 Leona Maguire
2017 Sophie Lamb
2018 Jeeno Thitikul
2019 Jeeno Thitikul
2021 Louise Duncan
2022 Rose Zhang
2023 Charlotte Heath
2024 Lottie Woad