LET career needs initial support programs
None of the German fans will know her name on the first day of the Amundi German Masters. None of the German newspapers will be reporting on her during the women’s tournament – unless Lauren Walsh is playing for the title. No, she has not yet won a tournament on the Ladies European Tour, she is not among the top 100 in the world rankings, but she is number 12 in the current LET money rankings. In other words, one of the best on Europe’s women’s professional tour. Lauren Walsh, a 24-year-old Irishwoman, is a player who tells a wonderful story about the rise to the top of female professional golf – because she will be one of the few who can make it to the top of the world.
“I was just a bit lucky that I was able to concentrate on my game at the beginning and knew that I didn’t have to worry about money in my first year,” says the Irishwoman, analysing her own story, which has been positive to date because Walsh has benefited from women’s development programs and has been able to focus on her career. She is a structured type with clear goals. Before turning professional in 2023, she was one of the 20 best amateurs in the world, something not many women from Europe achieve.
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Lauren Walsh was therefore a case for the few women development programs that exist. She leaped four of the initiatives. Ireland Golf and Sport Ireland have included her in their top development programs from the start of her professional career. As one of only four players each year, she was sponsored for three years from 2023 by the Annika Foundation, which was set up by Europe’s most successful female golfer of all time, Annika Sörenstam. In 2024, Walsh also became part of the Amundi Women’s Team, which currently comprises nine players worldwide and was founded by the French asset manager Amundi.
Last year, Lauren Walsh had no caddie, no manager, but a first-class golf game and, above all, an extremely positive and open manner, which is essential in women’s golf. Being straightforward with photographers, sponsor representatives and social media teams increased her suitability for sponsors.
If you look closely at Lauren Walsh in mid-2025, you can see that her financial situation has changed. Sponsor logos on all available positions on her cap and clothing indicate this, as does a full-time caddie on her side, and the reference to a management team that now takes care of the business side of things. The Irishwoman has made the most of her sponsorship and has now reached the top 15 of the LET money rankings.
If she were a pro on the DP World Tour, she would have earned around 700,000 euros in the first six months of the year. Lauren Walsh has not yet earned 100,000 euros, even though she has five top five finishes to her name and has not yet missed a cut. Does this difference in prize money frustrate her? “I can’t influence that, I can’t do more than just play and I think it’s gotten better anyway,” the young woman explains calmly. The prize money on the Ladies European Tour is growing steadily, albeit only slightly. After years in which the European women’s professional tour primarily struggled to put together a consistent tournament calendar, it is now at least possible to speak of a continuous supply of tournaments and therefore work for the pros.
Alongside the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which is regarded as the largest sponsor of women’s golf in Europe, but at the same time is always cited as the prime example of the negative case of so-called sportswashing, a European company, the asset manager Amundi, has become the most important sponsor of European women’s golf. As the title sponsor of the Amundi Evian Championship, the Amundi German Masters, the Amundi Czech Ladies Challenge and as a partner of the KPMG Ladies Irish Open, the company pursues a global women’s strategy and focuses on topics such as diversity, equality and financial education.
Self-determined and self-confident
As a member of the Amundi Women’s Team, Lauren Walsh belongs to the generation of young women who are in control of their careers. “I book every flight and every hotel myself, and I decide on my expenses. I am generally well-structured and like to plan things myself.” For the week of the Amundi German Masters, she is staying in an Airbnb accommodation around the corner from the Green Eagle Golf Courses venue. Her focus is on optimal preparation for four tournament rounds of golf, not on luxury and glamour.
Also, because she knows that now, in her third year as a professional, she is leaving the junior stage and has to make the transition to an established player. She did not make it through the American LPGA Tour’s Qualifying School last year. She has also not yet qualified for this season’s major tournaments. At the Amundi Evian Championship in a few weeks, she hopes for a wild card from her sponsor, Amundi. “Maybe I’ll be lucky and it will work out.” It would be another one of those small but essential aids that promote young talent in golf.
