Third Time Lucky for Colombian Marín

Tulum, Mexico: Colombia’s María José Marín finally claimed a long-awaited success in the Women’s Amateur Latin America championship (WALA) after a dramatic play-off victory over Emily Odwin at PGA Riviera Maya.

Marín, 19, surrendered a four-stroke lead over the last four holes of regulation play before holding her nerve to triumph at the third extra hole as Barbados’ Odwin, 21, finished runner-up for the second successive year.

At the championship presented by The R&A and the ANNIKA Foundation, it was instead third time lucky for Marín after her own runner-up finishes in 2021 and 2022.

Reflecting on her success, Marín said: “Third time’s the charm for me in this championship. I think that was in my head all day! Being back after two years and breaking the curse of coming short, I’m really grateful and so happy.

“It was an amazing week on the golf course, I completely loved it. PGA Riviera Maya is an amazing course and I’m really grateful that we got to play here. I’m just really happy that it turned out in my favour.”

On a nervy final day in hot, breezy conditions, Marín closed with a one-over-par 73 – highlighted by an eagle on the ninth when she holed her approach – and Odwin a level-par 72 as they posted a four-round total of seven-under 281. Odwin’s approach shot from a bunker into the water on the 10th, the third extra hole, proved her undoing as Marín made a victorious par before her Colombian team-mates rushed on to congratulate her.

Marín underlined her status as the top-ranked player in the field, sitting at eighth on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), but was pushed all the way by Odwin over the spectacular layout in Tulum. With Annika Sorenstam watching on, Marín became the second Colombian to lift the title after Valery Plata’s win four years ago.

Marín continues her outstanding season competing as a Junior for the University of Arkansas after winning the NCAA Division I Women’s National Championship last spring.

By virtue of her success, she will now play in three Major championships after earning exemptions into the AIG Women’s Open, The Chevron Championship and The Amundi Evian Championship in 2026. The top three players – Marín, Odwin and Colombian Luana Valero – also secured an exemption into The Women’s Amateur Championship next year at Muirfield, with the victor sealing a spot at the South American Amateur Championship in 2026.

Given Marín competed in two Majors in 2025, the US Women’s Open and The Amundi Evian Championship, she will have the chance to again compete with the world’s top female players.

With Marín and Odwin clear of the field, it became a final-round head-to-head showdown between the pair. There was immediate change when overnight leader Marín bogeyed the first and Odwin capitalised with a birdie to reach the top.

Odwin – who made history this year by becoming the first golfer from Barbados to qualify for a Major by earning her place in the US Women’s Open – dropped a shot at the seventh as they stood on the ninth tee tied at seven-under.

The course, part of Grupo Piñero’s Real Estate & Golf division and recognised as Mexico’s Best Golf Course at the World Golf Awards 2024, provided an excellent challenge and Odwin faltered when she found the trees on the short dog-leg par-four, leading to a double-bogey. It proved even more costly as Marín brilliantly struck her 97-yard approach past the flag before the ball spun back into the hole, sparking a gleeful jump for joy on the fairway.

The four-shot swing gave Marín a cushion and despite a bogey on the 10th, the semi-finalist at last year’s US Women’s Amateur birdied the 13th to restore her four-shot advantage. But Odwin, a Senior at Southern Methodist University and ranked 134th on the WAGR, refused to give up and she birdied the par-three 15th.

When Marín failed to get up and down from the back of the 17th to make bogey, there was only two strokes in it. Odwin then made a brilliant birdie on the last from six feet and Marín bogeyed after pulling her tee shot behind a tree as they went into overtime.

Odwin – making her fifth and final appearance in the championship ahead of turning pro after graduation – had a glorious chance for victory at the first extra hole after both players found the back bunker on the 18th but she missed from five feet as they both bogeyed. At the second playing of the 18th in extra time, Odwin this time holed from six feet for par to keep her hopes alive.

But she was left dejected when she caught a bunker to the right of the 10th fairway with her tee shot and a watery approach followed.

Valero finished in third place on two-under 286, the same mark as Ameila Ruiz Topali from Chile. Krishny Elwin from Puerto Rico was fifth on level-par 288. Defending champion Clarisa Temelo from Mexico tied 10th on eight-over.  

The fifth staging of the WALA featured its strongest ever field with 60 players representing 14 countries. The week was also enhanced for players and spectators alike with the presence of Sorenstam and Mexican legend Lorena Ochoa.

The Women’s Amateur Latin America championship follows the successful introduction of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific by The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation in 2018.

The aim of both championships is to strengthen the pathway to the very highest levels of golf by providing a platform for the best women amateur golfers in their respective regions to compete against each other.