What a feat. Paula Martín Sampedro (-4) continues to break milestones and records. A Sunday at the Women’s Open she will never forget, finishing eighth at Royal Porthcawl and establishing herself as the best amateur at the British 2025. A tale. What a tale.
The incredible summer achieved by the Madrid native is now part of amateur golf history. Champion of the British Amateur, European team champion, individual European champion, and this Sunday she secured the honour of being the best amateur of the tournament. No one has achieved such a repertoire in a single summer.
The context is wonderful. Fourth and decisive day of the major. Competing for the Smyth Salver. Sharing the match with Lydia Ko, a Hall of Fame golfer and the current titleholder. Paula Martín did not falter; on the contrary, she outperformed the New Zealander by seven strokes and delivered a scorecard of 68 strokes. The best scorecard of the day bore the signature of the Spaniard. We are talking about a major, and not just any major.
The Spaniard joins the ranks of Michelle Wie, Anna Nordqvist, Lydia Ko, Leona Maguire, Rose Zhang, or Lottie Woad as the best amateur of this event. Not a bad lineup. Paula is the second Spaniard in history to achieve this and follows in the footsteps of Luna Sobrón, who accomplished the same feat ten years ago, in 2015. “It is an honour, I am aware that great players have won this award. Adding my name to this trophy is incredible, and I hope this helps me realise that I can compete with the best in the world.”
All these achievements are impressive, but she did it by finishing the Women’s Open in the top ten of the tournament. In this way, Paula secures a spot in the 2026 event to be held at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Specifically, it is the fifth top ten in the history of Spanish golf in this tournament, the first by an amateur.
Among the string of records, she matched the second-best result by an amateur in this tournament since it became a Major, only behind Michelle Wie in 2005, when she finished third at Royal Birkdale, and matches the eighth place of Louise Stahle that same year in England.
The story is one for the books, as it adds the incentive that her trainer and coach, Alejandro Larrazábal, was crowned on this course in the British Amateur 23 years ago. This Sunday, a dream circle was completed. “What this girl has done is beyond words; in the end, the conditions were better, but early on it was a total nightmare.”
The day hadn’t started in the best possible way, as the conditions were the worst of the week. There was no chance of reaching the green in two on the opening hole, the wind was wild. It’s true she teed off on hole 1 knowing she was nine strokes ahead of the second-placed amateur, Carla Bernat. She started with two bogeys. The putter wasn’t helping her on the first nine, and she missed two birdie chances. She couldn’t change the momentum and closed the first half with 38 strokes.
From there, everything changed. The Sampedro hurricane appeared. Basically, the putter was unleashed. Between holes 11 and 15, Paulita’s fury was unleashed: five consecutive birdies! Displaying excellent play in challenging conditions. She capped it off with a great birdie on the 18th hole. The smile on the green with her coach was very revealing of the feat achieved. She can take a well-deserved holiday.
The other Spaniard in the fray, Carla Bernat, bid farewell with a bittersweet taste. She delivered a scorecard of 78 strokes in her last round as a professional, but the triumph was in going out to play. Carla woke up sick this Sunday. She considered not going out, but she didn’t want to close this chapter like that. She described this day as a real battle, that’s her, one of the ‘fighters’ standard-bearers.
However, on her last hole as an amateur, she bid farewell with a redemptive birdie. The ANWA champion can be more than proud of a chapter that closes by surpassing a cut in the Women’s Open. The Castellón native intended to play her first professional tournament next week in Canada, but she won’t know until Tuesday if she finally has a spot in the tournament.
