Golfer Amy Boulden has claimed a top-10 finish at the prestigious British Open tournament at Turn­berry in Scotland last weekend writes Tim Leigh.

Amy, whose family originally hail from the South Hams and whose grandparents still live in Kingsbridge, made the cut for the first time at her fifth major and claimed joint ninth place, picking up £43,000 in prize money.

This was the perfect early birthday present for the up and coming golfer, who turned 22 yesterday and is in just her second year as a professional on the European Tour.

Dad Simon, who is the golf professional at Maesdu Golf Club in north Wales and who saw the action in person, said: ‘She was joint-top Brit, I’m very proud of her. The at­mosphere was tremendous.

‘It was her fifth open, last year she didn’t make the cut so to go from that to finishing ninth is amazing. This is definitely her best achievement so far. She won an access event, the level below the tour, earlier this year, but this is on another level.’

Amy is currently in Prague, competing in a tournament this weekend, proving there is no rest to be had for the busy ladies of the European tour.

Come the end of the year, though, Amy hopes to have earned her LPGA card to compete on the US tour as well as the European tour. In order to qualify for the lucrative and challenging US tour, Amy will be competing at the Plantation Golf and Country Club, Venice, Florida, from October 19-25.

If successful, she will then tackle a competition at the LPGA Inter­national, Daytona Beach, Florida, from November 30-Decem­ber 6.

The future certainly looks bright for Amy, who earned the accolade of rookie of the year last year and who is now hoping to be a part of the Solheim Cup team being announced at the end of the month.

Amy won’t have done her chances of a captain’s pick any harm at all with this stellar performance.