Castlewarden’s Lauren Walsh gave her Curtis Cup hopes a huge boost when she won the Griffin Women's Amateur by five strokes at Grandover Resort in North Carolina.

The Wake Forest sophomore (20) opened with rounds of 71 and 72 on the East Course at Grandover Resort in Greensboro to lead by two strokes into the final round on one-under-par.

She then closed with a two-over 74 to win by five shots from Virginia Tech’s Becca DiNunzio, who shot 71, on one-over 217 with NC State’s Isabel Amezcua third on seven-over after a 78.

Scores

It was the Kill native’s first win in the US and having moved to 53rd in the World Amateur Ranking following her freshman season with Wake Forest, she is expected to move comfortably into the top-50 when the rankings are updated on Wednesday.

Walsh played in all seven events for Wake Forest in what was a shortened 2019-20 season, finishing with a stroke average of 72.37.

A semi-finalist in the Irish Women’s Close last year, she.finished inside the top 25 six times with her best coming at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate where she tied for sixth.

Her .best score came at the Cougar Classic where she tied for seventh on five-under and was subsequently received WGCA All-American Honourable Mention.

Last September she was named with Olivia Mehaffey, Annabel Wilson and Julie McCarthy in the initial Great Britain and Ireland squad of ten players for next year’s Curtis Cup match at Conwy Golf Club in Wales.