The Spaniard Paula Martín is, as of this Wednesday, the day on which the world amateur ranking is updated weekly, the new Number One in the world. It is a date for the history. Note it. 26 August 2026.
The Madrid-born golfer is the second Spaniard to reach the top of the rankings since Julia López. The Málaga native was only number one for one week, the week of 21 July 2024. Paula has climbed to the throne because Kiara Romero, Number One until now, decided to turn professional last week with her LPGA Tour card in her pocket. She obtained it through the LEAP programme, a kind of women’s version of PGA Tour University Accelerated. The gap left by Romero, very large, since she had accumulated more than 50 weeks at the top, will now be filled by Martín.
Aside from Paula’s top spot, it should be noted that Andrea Revuelta occupies second position, and not far from Paula, her fellow Madrid native and teammate both in the national teams and at the Universidad de Stanford. That two Spaniards occupy the top two places of the world ranking is the first time it has happened. Impressive.
Third place, and the main threat to the Spaniards, goes to the American Farah O’Keefe, who is just under 53 points behind Paula.
Paula Martín, 20 years old —she turns 21 on 2 September—, was Spanish Absolute Champion in 2022, the best in the Women’s Amateur Championship in 2025 and first placed in the 2025 European Individual Amateur Championship, in addition to winning the NCAA Final with Stanford in 2024 and contributing to the gold medals in the European Under-18 Team Championships in 2021 and 2023 and in the senior category in 2025 and 2026, as well as in the World Junior Team Championship in 2022.
A regular in professional tournaments since 2022 despite remaining an amateur, her eighth place in the AIG Women’s Open 2025 stands out, with the best golfers in the world present. In fact, this week she will make her debut as Number One in the world at the FM Championship of the LPGA Tour, where she has received an invitation.
Beyond the honour of being Number One in the world, a distinction that only 23 golfers have reached in history, Paula will receive one more point in the LEAP Program for placing at the top of the rankings. She already had two for being Number 2 and will now get one more for being the best. This will put her on 13 points in the LEAP. If she reaches 20 points from now until the day she turns professional, before 1 July 2027, the Madrid-born golfer will receive the full LPGA Tour card.
The criteria for adding points are as follows:
1. World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR)
A player will earn points based on the highest position reached during her career in the WAGR. Only the points corresponding to her best position will be awarded, not for every position she has held.
– 3 points: for having reached number 1 in the WAGR
– 2 points: for having reached number 2 or number 3
– 1 point: for having reached number 4 or number 5
2. Final position in official LPGA tournaments
There is no limit to the number of points that can be obtained through official LPGA tournaments
– LPGA majors: 2 points for finishing among the top 25 —ties included— or 1 point for making the cut
– Official LPGA tournaments that are not majors —excluding the Dow Championship—: 2 points for finishing among the top ten —ties included— or 1 point for finishing among the top 40 —ties included—.
3. Amateur championships
There is no limit to the number of points that can be obtained within this category
2 points for the champion of each of the following tournaments:
– Augusta National Women’s Amateur
– European Ladies’ Amateur Championship
– The Women’s Amateur Championship
– World Amateur Team Championship —individual champion—
– United States Women’s Amateur Championship
– NCAA Division I Individual Championship
1 point for the champion of each of the following tournaments:
– United States Girls’ Junior Championship
– Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship
– Women’s Amateur Latin America
4. Awards and recognitions
There is no limit to the number of points that can be obtained within this category
– 4 points: winner of the McCormack Medal
– 2 points: winner of the ANNIKA Award
– 2 points: Women’s Golf Coaches Association Player of the Year
– 1 point: AJGA Player of the Year
– 1 point: Inkster Award winner (Division I)
5. Team competitions
There is no limit to the number of points that can be obtained within this category
– 2 points: for each amateur player who competes as an official member of a Curtis Cup team
– 1 point: for each amateur player who competes as an official member of an Arnold Palmer Cup team
