Emma Talley of the United States won the Smyth Salver as the leading amateur in the Ricoh Women’s British Open with scores of 72, 73, 76 and 74 for a total of 294, six-over-par.
Talley finished three strokes ahead of England’s Georgia Hall, the only other amateur to make the cut, who finished on nine-over-par with a final round of 74. Hall shared the leading amateur prize with Lydia Ko at St Andrews last year.
Talley, 20, the 2013 US Women’s Amateur Champion, is currently at the University of Alabama. She joins an illustrious list of past winners of the Smyth Salver including Ko, Hall, Caroline Hedwall (2010), Anna Nordqvist (2008), Melissa Reid (2007), Amy Yang (2006) and Michelle Wie (2005).
Talley said: “Going into the week all I wanted to do was play well. I don’t know how the weather was going to work out for me and thankfully I had the first few days pretty good. So it’s very exciting. Making the cut was great and now being the top amateur was even better.
“I played here a couple years ago. I was a little nervous, but I knew Georgia was up on me for sure. Just wanted to play well, hit the middle of the greens and that’s it.”
Talley holed the winning putt at the 2014 Curtis Cup for America and she added: “It’s kind of funny that Georgia, we played against each other at the Curtis Cup, so it was kind of interesting to play against her again.”
Talley, from Kentucky, is in no rush to turn professional and added: “I have two more years of school and hopefully after that, pro.”
