Castlewarden’s Lauren Walsh continued her meteoric rise in the Word Amateur Golf Ranking when she secured her second successive second-place finish this month.

The world No 29, who now looks certain to burst into the world’s top 20, was runner-up in the Palmetto Intercollegiate at Turtle Point Golf Course on Kiawah Island.

The Wake Forest star (21) fired rounds of 77, 68 and 72 to finish a shot behind team mate Rachel Kuehn on one-over par.

Scores

Wake Forest took home the team title by a margin of 28 strokes, the second-largest winning margin in programme history.

Kuehn won her second individual title, after winning the ANNIKA Intercollegiate in her first collegiate event in the fall of 2019.

After carding birdies on her first two holes of the second nine she shot even par the rest of the way to hold on to top spot.

Walsh finished in second for the second-consecutive event, just one stroke behind.

After opening with a 77 that left her tied 22nd, she shot a team-low 68 in the second round and level par in the final round to jump 20 spots up the board.

Walsh, who was seeking her third win on US soil in the space of four months, has two more events the next three weeks and could well crack the world’s top 10.

She has not received an invitation to compete alongside Olivia Mehaffey and Julie McCarthy in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur but may merit the call in current form.

Indiana and Killarney’s Valerie Clancy finished 60th in the event on 256.