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Valentine Delon Wins British Women's Amateur After 35-Hole Final at Muirfield
Valentine Delon is the 123rd Women's Amateur Champion after defeating Andrea Revuelta in a grueling 35-hole final in testing links conditions at Muirfield.
Delon, who carried a 2-up advantage through 32 holes, closed out the resilient Spaniard to claim the Pam Barton Memorial Salver and one of amateur golf's most coveted titles. The Frenchwoman never trailed in the marathon match, holding her nerve through difficult conditions to seal victory on the 35th hole. Revuelta's spirited resistance pushed the final the distance, but Delon's composed play throughout the week earned her the championship and the major exemptions that come with it.
Medalist Lily Hirst of England
GULLANE, Scotland — Valentine Delon never trailed. Not in the Round of 64, not in any of the six matches that followed, and not for a single hole of Saturday's 36-hole final. The Frenchwoman closed out Spain's Andrea Revuelta 3 & 1 at Muirfield to win the 123rd Women's Amateur Championship, completing one of the most assured week-long runs the championship has seen.
For Delon, a rising sophomore at Virginia Tech and a product of France's famed Chantilly club, the Pam Barton Memorial Salver is the biggest prize of a career built almost entirely on the strength of her match play. And it came the hard way — over 35 holes, in difficult links conditions, against the No. 3-ranked amateur in the world.
How the Final Was Won
The morning round set the tone: patient, see-sawing, but always tilting Delon's way. The two were all square at the 1st, 5th and 9th, yet Revuelta could never push in front. Delon nudged ahead in stretches, was reeled back to level, then steadied herself down the closing holes to take a 2-up lead into the lunch break — the same margin she had held over so many opponents all week.
The afternoon was where she delivered the knockout. Delon came out firing and ran the lead to 3 up through the first three holes, applying exactly the kind of early pressure her coach had urged from the first tee all week. Revuelta, to her credit, never folded — the world No. 3 clawed back the occasional hole and forced two concessions from Delon down the stretch, refusing to let the deficit run away. But the Spaniard could never close the gap to within one.
Holding a 3-up advantage with two to play, Delon sealed it on the 17th hole of the afternoon round — the 35th of the match — for a 3 & 1 victory. Fittingly, it came near the stretch of the course that had defined her championship.
Never behind, all week. Across seven matches and roughly 120 holes of match play at Muirfield, Valentine Delon did not trail at any point. She closed out three of her matches — the Round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal — with decisive tee shots at the par-3 16th, a hole she came to own.
The Champion: Valentine Delon
Golf is the family business. Delon, 21, was born into a household of golfers at Chantilly — her father, Antoine, is the current captain of the French men's national team, and her older sister and younger brother both play. Family legend holds that a Ping executive gifted her a putter as an infant; she has never switched brands since.
Her game has always been built for head-to-head combat. Delon talks about "mindset" — the deliberate act of configuring her mind before a match — and her record backs it up. She won the 2023 French U21 Trophée Roger Cartier after trailing nearly the entire final, then captured back-to-back French national amateur titles over compatriot Camille Min Gaultier, the second a 36-hole classic in which she made 12 birdies. She has also held her own in elite stroke-play fields, tying for second at the 2024 Schooner Fall Classic alongside then-world-No. 1 amateur Lottie Woad, and represented France at the 2025 Espirito Santo Trophy.
"I practise every day to be in this situation," Delon said after reaching the final. "My parents surprised me — I didn't know they would be here. They usually come at a good moment and in good tournaments." On Saturday, in front of them, she added the most coveted title in the amateur women's game to her growing collection.
Runner-Up: Andrea Revuelta
Revuelta leaves Muirfield without the trophy but with her status as one of the world's best amateurs intact. The 19-year-old Stanford sophomore from Madrid — a former ballet dancer turned WAGR No. 3 — reached the final the hard way, surviving an all-Spanish quarterfinal against Cayetana Fernandez and then outlasting top-ranked American Farah O'Keefe in a semifinal that never moved beyond 1 up or 1 down.
It continues a banner stretch for the junior world champion turned collegiate star, who was runner-up at the 2026 Augusta National Women's Amateur and won the ACC Championship and an NCAA regional as a freshman. Saturday's loss is a near-miss, not a setback — but it stings for a player who had spoken all week of wanting her name on this trophy. "I really want to be here… and have a chance at that trophy," she had said. She got the chance; Delon simply never let her seize it.
What the Title Earns Her
As champion, Delon collects a schedule that will reshape her year. The Salver comes with exemptions into four major championships — the AIG Women's Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, the U.S. Women's Open, the Amundi Evian Championship and the Chevron Championship — plus, by tradition, an invitation to the Augusta National Women's Amateur. Five starts on the biggest stages in the women's game, earned over a single week at one of golf's most demanding venues.
Delon's Road to the Title
Stroke play. Advanced through 36 holes of qualifying as the field was cut to the low 64. England's Lily Hirst earned the Doris Chambers Trophy as medalist — the only player under par across both rounds — but lost her opening match.
Early rounds. Delon advanced through the Round of 64 and Round of 32 to reach the last 16, part of a week defined by upsets elsewhere — most notably Canada's Ann-Sophie Bourgault knocking out defending champion and WAGR No. 2 Paula Martin Sampedro in the opening round.
Round of 16 & Quarterfinal. She closed out her last-16 match, then beat Sweden's Matilda Bjorkman 2 & 1 in the quarterfinals — both sealed with that decisive tee shot at the 16th — to reach an all-French semifinal.
Semifinal. In storm-affected conditions on Friday, Delon defeated Belgium's Savannah De Bock, again finding the same patch of green at the 16th to advance to the final without ever trailing.
Final. Defeated Andrea Revuelta 3 & 1 over 35 holes, leading 2 up after the morning round and pushing to 3 up early in the afternoon before closing it out.
The Women's Amateur Championship returns next year as one of the two pillars of the women's amateur game, alongside the U.S. Women's Amateur. For full scoring from Muirfield, visit randa.org.
