Girls' and Boys' Am

Martin Sampedro leading qualifier at Carnoustie in Girls' Amateur

The R&A

09 Aug 22

3 mins

Paula Martin Sampedro led the top-64 qualifiers into the matchplay stages at the R&A Girls’ Amateur Championship at Carnoustie.

History is being made in Angus with leading under-18 players from across the world gathering for the two championships, proudly supported by EventScotland, at Carnoustie, Monifieth and Panmure. In bright and breezy conditions, Sampedro, 16, was the only player from the 144-player Girls’ field to finish under par at Carnoustie. After two rounds of stroke play qualifying at the recent venue for The Open and AIG Women’s Open, she finished on two-under-par. “This shows how my game is right now and I’m really happy to be at the top of the leaderboard with all these amazing girls,” she said. “I’ll go into the match play with the same mindset because it is what really matters in this type of championship.

First trip to Scotland

“This is my first time playing the Girls’ Amateur and links golf, so it has been a really good experience and I hope it continues like this. I’m really enjoying my first time in Scotland. I went to Edinburgh a couple of days ago and visited St Andrews, the 18th hole, just to have the photo.” It proved a good day for Spain with Martin Sampedro’s compatriot Jorge Siyuan Hao, also aged 16, topping the Boys’ Amateur qualifying at Monifieth and Panmure. For the first time, the match play stages of the Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur will be played simultaneously at one venue when they are held over the famed links of Carnoustie later in the week. Over Carnoustie’s testing lay-out in the 93rd staging of the Girls’ Amateur Championship, Martin Sampedro – placed 82nd on the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) – signed for excellent rounds of 69 and 71 for a two-under-par total.

England's Lottie Woad continued her fine form this year in finishing second in stroke play qualifying in difficult conditions at Carnoustie.

English form

The reigning Spanish Amateur Champion played with Maggie Whitehead, former winner of the England Under-16s, and she also impressed to finish tied third after rounds of 70 and 76 for a four-over-par total. Ines Archer from France also posted four-over after back-to-back rounds of 73. It was another English player, Lottie Woad, who finished second behind the Spaniard as the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters winner finished on one-over. Load said, “It’s an amazing course, very tough. When I got here I didn’t really know what the standard of scores would be to make the cut, especially with the wind, but it’s definitely set up like an Open course, basically just trying to avoid bunkers. “I’m just trying to hole a few more putts. On these greens, you can easily be over 60 foot away with a good shot so it’s about trying to not give those shots away in match play.”

International field

Impressively for under-18 level, seven players from the top 100 on the WAGR® are in the field, including top-ranked Meja Ortengren (21) from Sweden who advanced inside the top-30. Italian Francesca Fiorellini (39), the second highest ranked player, also progressed. Whitehead added, “It’s quite a special place for me at Carnoustie, having met Tom Watson at The Open in 2018 and then coming to the AIG Women’s Open last year and being invited to play in the Pro-Am. “I was happier with yesterday’s round, as I holed a load of puts out there, which I think is really the only way to make birdies round this course. “But considering I’m loaded with the cold, I’m alright with that. It’s going to be a long week but I’ll try to go as far as I can and see what happens. I think I’m playing well and my game’s in a good place at the moment.” For the first time, the 36-hole finals of both championships on Sunday will be live streamed at Carnoustie and can be watched on The R&A’s website at www.randa.org as well as on The R&A YouTube channel.