Smyth Salver hopefuls

The race for the Smyth Salver is one of the biggest talking points of any AIG Women’s Open and there are five contenders in the field this year.

Presented to the leading amateur who completes all four rounds, the Smyth Salver has an impressive roll of honour that includes major champions Michelle Wie West (2005), Anna Nordqvist (2008), Danielle Kang (2011), Lydia Ko (2012, 2013), and Georgia Hall (2013).

In recent years, Jeeno Thitikul and Rose Zhang have finished as the low amateur at the event and are now ranked inside the world’s top 20 with ambitions of claiming the top prize this time round.

England’s Hall and Swede Nordqvist are the only Smyth Salver recipients to have gone on to win the AIG Women’s Open since 2001, while just one player has won both honours in the same Championship – Spain’s Marta Figueras-Dotti prevailed as an amateur for a historic triumph at Royal Birkdale in 1982.

This year’s quintet of Smyth Salver hopefuls have all earnt their place at St Andrews and will be targeting one of the great amateur honours. 

Lottie Woad

Lottie Woad became the first European winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this year.

The former Girls’ Amateur champion shot a wonderful closing 69 at the Georgia venue, closing with birdies on the 17th and 18th to clinch the title by one shot from Bailey Shoemaker of the United States.

The 20-year-old then showed again why she is so highly regarded with an impressive tied-23rd finish on her major debut at the Chevron Championship, highlighted by an incredible approach shot at the par-5 8th on day two.

Woad, who hails from Farnham in Surrey, attends Florida State University. She made her debut on the Ladies European Tour at the Madrid Open in 2022 as an 18-year-old.

In June 2024, she reached world number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and will be one to watch at St Andrews and beyond.

Julia Lopez Ramirez

The world’s second ranked amateur will play at her second successive AIG Women’s Open this week.

The Spaniard progressed to Walton Heath after victory at last year’s European Ladies Amateur Championship.

She impressed on her maiden major start as one of only two amateurs to make the cut, with Charlotte Heath beating Lopez Ramirez to the Smyth Salver.

The 21-year-old enrolled at Mississippi State University in 2021 and was named the Southeastern Conference (SEC) individual champion in 2023 and 2024, en route to becoming the world’s top amateur.

England’s Woad has reclaimed the number one spot since but Lopez Ramirez’s ranking was enough to take her into the field for 2024 AIG Women’s Open.

Ela Anacona

Ela Anacona won the Women’s Amateur Latin America Championship in November 2023 with a record score to secure a place at the AIG Women’s Open.

Argentina’s Anacona won by a mammoth 12 shots at Pilar Golf, north of Buenos Aires, delighting home crowds with a coming-of-age performance.

The 23-year-old closed her brilliant week with a final round three-under-par 69 for a championship record 15-under 273.

Better still, she received a victory video message from the legendary 10-time major winner Annika Sorenstam.

The result earned an exemption into the Chevron Championship, Evian Championship and AIG Women's Open in 2024.

The University of Arkansas graduate missed the cut in the first two of those majors but those experiences will have served her well ahead of her St Andrews voyage.

Chun-wei Wu

Chun-wei Wu overcame a late scare to book her place at the 2024 AIG Women’s Open with victory in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific.

Wu entered the final round with a four-stroke advantage but four bogeys in her first 14 holes cut her gap to just a single stroke at Siam Country Club’s Waterside Course in Thailand.

She bounced back brilliantly to birdie 15 and 17 and that proved enough for glory as she claimed the record-low championship score with an 18-under 270.

She also joined former world number one Jeeno Thitikul as the only player to win the event while holding at least a share of the lead after all four rounds.

The 19-year-old became just the second golfer from Chinese Taipei to win the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific and will hope to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Yani Tseng, who made good of her promising amateur career with back-to-back Women’s Open wins in 2010 and 2011.

Louise Rydqvist

The most recent amateur addition to the field, Louise Rydqvist booked a spot in her first major after triumphing in the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship.

The Swede saw off compatriot Meja Örtengren and Spain’s Andrea Revuelta to win by three strokes at Messila Golf Club last month.

Victory in Finland was her fifth as an amateur, with her first coming back in 2016 at the Puma/Cobra Junior Masters Invitational.

The 23-year-old secured her first professional win at the Johannesburg Ladies Open while still an amateur in 2020 and helped Sweden to the Espirito Santo Trophy in 2022.

Rydqvist, a student at South Carolina University, finished runner-up at the 2022 Women’s Amateur Championship, where she was beaten 4&3 by Jess Baker in the final.