Valery Plata

Qualified by winning the inaugural Women’s Amateur Latin America Championship in Argentina in November, the Colombian edging out her compatriot Maria Jose Marin Negrete by a single stroke.

With seven holes to play she stood four behind, but the 20-year-old said: “I promised myself I would not give up to the very end and luckily things turned in my favour.”

Took up a golf scholarship at Michigan State University and in 2020 reached the semi-finals of the U.S Women’s Amateur before losing to defending champion Gabriela Ruffels, who was then beaten in the final by world No.1 Rose Zhang.

Has already made a halfway cut on the LPGA Tour after receiving a sponsor’s invitation to the Meijer Classic.