Samantha Jo Giles (born 28 October 1994) is a Cornish

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who currently plays on the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

LET Access Series The LET Access Series (LETAS) is a professional golf tour for women and the official development tour to the Ladies European Tour. Launched in 2010, the LET Access Series provides players with an opportunity to compete and progress on to the LET ...

and

Rose Ladies Series The Rose Ladies Series is a ladies professional golf tour founded in 2020 and organised by Justin Rose and his wife, Kate Rose. The tour was announced following the reintroduction of golf in the United Kingdom after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns ...

professional tours and has represented England at the highest amateur level. Giles is the first female amateur golfer to hold all three major English women's amateur titles, English Women's Mid-Amateur,

English Women's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship The English Women's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship is the national women's amateur stroke play golf championship in England. Entry is open to all amateur golfers. It has been played annually at since 1984 and is organised by the England Go ...

and the

English Women's Amateur Championship The English Women's Amateur Championship is the women's national amateur match play golf championship of England. It was first played in 1912 and is currently organised by England Golf. The English Women's Amateur Championship is contested thro ...

. She has also been Cornwall's women's county champion (2015).

Early career

Giles was born in Plymouth to parents Paul and Carol, both of whom had represented England at table tennis, Carol at the

Commonwealth games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and Paul as national champion. She had an early interest in swimming, dancing and golf. From the age of 11, Giles concentrated on golf and competed in regional, national and European events. Since the age of 16 Giles has trained full-time with the objective of turning professional, which she achieved in 2017. As an amateur her most important successes were joining the

England Golf England Golf is the governing body for male and female amateur golf in England. It represents over 1,900 golf clubs with over 740,000 members and is affiliated to The R&A, the joint global governing body of golf. It was formed in 2012 as a merg ...

Women's team, winning the 2014 English women's mid-amateur championship, 2015 Cornish Women's Championship, 2015

, the

Royal Birkdale Golf Club Royal Birkdale Golf Club is a golf course in the United Kingdom in North West England, located in Southport, Merseyside. It is one of the clubs in the rotation for both the Open Championship and Women's British Open and has hosted the Open Champio ...

Ladies Scratch Trophy, the 2016

and the 2015 and 2016

Women's Home Internationals The Women's Home Internationals were an amateur team golf championship for women contested between the four Home Nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, where Ireland was represented by the whole island of Ireland on an All-Ireland basi ...

with England. In January 2017, Giles was named as the

Plymouth Herald ''The Herald'' is a Reach plc newspaper serving Plymouth. Its website and social media were rebranded as ''Plymouth Live'' in 2018. Its editor is Edd Moore. Print and online presence The newspaper's average circulation was 6,430 in the first ...

Amateur Sports Personality of the Year for 2016.

Professional career

Giles turned professional in April 2017 and played her first tournament as a professional at the Azores Ladies Open on the

. She made the cut and finished joint 11th. Giles joined the newly formed

Banco Santander Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centres ...

Tour for her second professional event, the Banco Santander Open in Zaragoza, Spain. She managed her first top-10 finish as a professional. In June, Giles achieved her first top-5 as a professional in her fourth event as a professional. This was followed by another top-15 finish on the LET Access Tour with a tied 13th-place finish in the Belfius Ladies Open at Rinkven Golf Club in Belgium in July. She closed out her first season as a professional golfer with a tied 13th finish at the joint Banco Santander and LET Access Series Tour event hosted at the

El Saler El Saler is a village in Valencia, Spain. It is part of the municipality of Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipaliti ...

golf club. Giles began her second season as a professional with a top-5 finish at the

Roehampton Club The Roehampton Club is a private members’ sports club in Roehampton in southwest London, England. It is set in of parkland, close to Richmond Park. Originally established in 1901 as an officers’ polo club, the Roehampton Club has sporting and ...

in April 2018. This was followed a few weeks later on the

at the VP Bank Ladies Open in Gams, Switzerland. After successfully making the cut, she ended with a top-40 finish. Despite suffering a knee injury whilst surfing in March 2019, Giles made a strong return to her third season as a professional by making the cut and recording a top 45 finish at the Montauban Open in June. The following week at the Belfius Open in Cleydael, Giles recorded her best ever performance as a professional with a top 5 finish having led the field over the first two days. At her first attempt at the

qualifying school in January 2020, Giles successfully made it through to the final qualifying round. As of 2021, Giles has played in the first two seasons of the

with her best result a tied for 4th-place finish at Bearwood Lakes in September 2021. In December 2021, Giles competed in the

qualifying school final round, having successfully passed the preliminarily round, and placed 59th.

Notes

Giles plays out of the

St. Mellion International Resort The St Mellion Estate, formerly St Mellion International Resort, is a hotel with golf and other recreational facilities in the parish of St Mellion, near Saltash, in east Cornwall. St Mellion, which comprises a hotel, conference facilities, h ...

in Cornwall.

Amateur wins

*2010

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Andalucia Junior Girls European Open *2011

Andalucia Junior Girls European Open *2012

Andalucia Junior Girls European Open *2014 English Women's Mid-Amateur & The Liphook Scratch Trophy *2015 Cornish Women's County Championship,

, Royal Birkdale Ladies Scratch, *2016

, Source:

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing England): 2015 (winners), 2016 (winners)

References

External links

Profile on LET Access Series official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giles, Samantha English female golfers Sportspeople from Plymouth, Devon People from Saltash 1994 births Living people