SPANISH ACE, WINS US AWARD, NOW BOUND FOR RYL PORTRUSH

FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITE
Spanish ace Marta Silva, a student at Georgia University, has won the Honda Sports Award as the top woman in US college golf. Her next stop is Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland for next week's British women's open amateur championship.
Marta, pictured, will be bidding to be the sixth Spaniard to win the title since the turn of the century, following the "British" successes of Marta Prieto (2001), Elisa Serramia (2003), Belen Mozo (2006),Carlota Ciganda (2007) and Azahara Munoz who beat Ciganda in the 2009 final at Harlech.

Silva, a junior (third) year student from Santiago de Compostela, was ranked No. 1 most of the spring and set the Bulldogs’ record for stroke average at 71.5. She led Georgia in par-or-better rounds (22), birdies (109) and finished fourth at the NCAA women's championship two or three weeks ago.

Marta had six top-five finishes in 10 tournaments this season.

The other nominees for the Honda Award were Louisiana State University's Austin Ernst, University of Southern California's Lizette Salas and Arkansas' Kelli Shean. They were selected by rankings and finish at the NCAA championship.

Silva becomes eligible for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year honour, which will be awarded on June 27 in New York.

She is currently No 11 in the Women's World Amateur Rankings. Five of the girls ranked above her are in the Royal Portrush field, including the Nos 1 and 2 from New Zealand, 14-year-old Lydia Ko and 16-year-old Cecilia Cho.