As well as the AIG Women’s Open crowning the champion golfer for 2023, there is also a prize for the low female amateur. The Smyth Salver is an equally coveted trophy in the amateur ranks and the list of former winners is as illustrious as the AIG Women’s Open champions itself, with many going on to become successful professionals in the game. Here are a selection of them.
Lydia Ko - 2012 & 2013
Lydia Ko was just a teenager when she won the Smyth Salver in 2012. Due to her young age (just 15) she remained an amateur for one more year, and shared the title with Georgia Hall in 2013 before turning professional. It turned out to be the right decision and she was able to springboard into the professional game with ease. She made an instant impression on tour with and by the age of 17 the New Zealand professional golfer became the youngest player in history of professional golf (male or female) to reach number one in the Women’s World Golf Rankings. She was 17 years, 9 months and 9 days of age.
Ko has won two Major championships (the Evian Championship in 2015 & the Chevron Championship in 2016) and 26 tour titles made up of 19 LPGA titles, 7 LET titles, 5 ALPG Tour titles and once on the LPGA of Korea Tour, making her one of the most successful female golfers of all time.
Michelle Wie - 2006
American Michelle Wie was another child prodigy. At the wee (excuse the pun) age of 10 she became the youngest player in history to qualify for a USGA amateur championship. Wie also became the youngest winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and the youngest to qualify for an LPGA Tour event. She blew the field away in 2006 to win the Smyth Salver aged 16 with the lowest winning score ever of just 278 and turned professional shortly after. Her Tour debut was followed by a trail of media frenzy, with huge sponsorship deals - everyone wanted a piece of her. She won her first and only major at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open. In 2019 Wie married and is now known as Michelle Wie-West.
Melissa Reid - 2007
English golfer Mel Reid from Derby had a stellar amateur career. She won the 2004 and 2006 English Girls’ Championship, the 2006 and 2007 Helen Holm Trophy, the 2007 St Rule Trophy and played on the Great Britain and Ireland team in the 2006 Curtis Cup. In 2007 she became Ladies British Open Amateur Stroke Play champion and it was this title that gave her the spot in the 2007 Women’s British Open played at the Home of Golf, the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland, for the first time in women’s professional golf history. She made an impressive amateur debut in the major winning the Smyth Salver with ease with a T16 overall finish in the tournament.
It was surprising to many that Reid failed to get her card at the 2007 LET Qualifying School in Italy after turning professional, she did so instead the following year playing on sponsors invitations, a third place finish at the Australian Open in early February allowed her to stay in the top 20 on the money list and gain entry to the LET events for the rest of the season. Reid has won six times on the LET, once on the LPGA and a member of the European Solheim Cup team in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2021.
Anna Nordqvist - 2008
Swedish LPGA Tour player Anna Nordqvist was a successful amateur both in Europe and the US before she turned professional. Her accolades included Swedish Junior Player of the Year (2004 & 2005), Swedish Amateur of the Year (2005), Girls Amateur Champion (2005) and winner of the British Ladies Amateur at her third successive try in 2008. She won the Smyth Salver for the low amateur honours in the 2008 Ricoh Women’s British Open and that same year was part of the winning Swedish team at the European Ladies’ Team Championship. By the end of her first year in college at Arizona State University she was named National Golf Coaches Association Freshman of the Year, Pac-10 Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.
It was not surprising then that at the end of only her fifth start on the LPGA Tour Nordqvist won her first professional tournament and major, the LPGA Championship in 2009. This led to her selection as a captain’s pick for the Solheim Cup. In November she won the LPGA Tour Championship and was named Rookie of the Year on the LET. She has had 13 professional wins including three majors, the most recent, the 2021 AIG Women’s Open.
Smyth Salver Winners in the last two decades (& their score total)
2022 Rose Zhang 285
2021 Louise Duncan 281
2020 NO EVENT
2019 Atthaya Thitkul 284
2018 Atthaya Thitkul 300
2017 Sophie Lamb 282
2016 Leona Maguire 284
2015 Luna Sobron 287
2014 Emma Talley 294
2013 Georgia Hall & Lydia Ko 294
2012 Lydia Ko 297
2011 Danielle Kang 290
2010 Caroline Hedwall 291
2009 NO EVENT
2008 Anna Nordqvist 285
2007 Melissa Reid 296
2006 Amy Yang 301
2005 Michelle Wie West 278
2004 Elisa Serramia 294
2003 Rebecca Hudson 287
