Paula Martín Sampedro

Paula Martín Sampedro capped an incredible year by winning the coveted Smyth Salver at Royal Porthcawl.

The 19-year-old triumphed in The Women’s Amateur Championship in June and carried this momentum into the AIG Women’s Open in Wales, where a stunning final round helped her end the weekend as the best-placed of four amateurs in the field.

Paula – whose coach and caddie Alejandro Larrazábal won The Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl in 2002 – carded rounds of 72, 74, 70 and 68 to finish on four-under-par and up into a tie for eighth on the leaderboard.

Her Sunday charge incorporated an incredible five straight birdies from the 11th as she recorded the lowest back nine (30) of the week.

It was a hugely impressive showing from the Madrid native on her AIG Women’s Open debut as she finished clear of Jeneath Wong and Carla Bernat. Meja Ortengren, the only other amateur in the field, failed to make the cut.

The Smyth Salver is awarded to the amateur who shoots the lowest score at the AIG Women’s Open, provided they complete four rounds.

It has been contested since 1979, with England’s Sue Hedges the very first recipient.

Some famous players have added their names to the roll of honour including Michelle Wie, Mel Reid, Leona Maguire, Jeeno Thitikul – who won the Smyth Salver in 2018 and 2019 before rising to second in the world rankings – Rose Zhang and Lottie Woad.

Most notably, four former Smyth Salver winners have gone on to taste victory in the AIG Women’s Open – Marta Figueras-Dotti, Anna Nordqvist, Georgia Hall and last year’s winner Lydia Ko, who was grouped with Paula in the final round and was full of praise for her playing partner.

Lydia said: “She's had an incredible summer. I've met her before, followed what she's been doing and she's been playing incredibl[y well].

“[She was] obviously coming in with a lot of momentum. [It} doesn't matter how well you’re playing – the conditions we had, especially at the start of our round, was pretty crazy.

“She was very gutsy and it was just a lot of good golf.”