By Chalien Dantes

Barbados’ Emily Odwin stood out at the 2026 South American Amateur Golf Championship in Argentina, finishing second after a tense sudden-death playoff on January 11. 

The four-day tournament, held from January 8 to 11, brought together top amateur golfers from across South America and several invited nations from Europe, North America, and the Caribbean.

Odwin held her own against a deep international field that included players from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, the United States, England, Scotland, Canada, and more. In the end, Peru’s Luisamariana Mesones edged out the Barbadian golfer in the playoff to claim the title, leaving Odwin with a hard-earned runner-up finish. Odwin is a four-time Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Champion and a two-time runner-up at the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship. She has also competed widely on the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour in the United States, where she collected four titles during her junior years.

Her international résumé includes appearances at the Pan American Games in 2019 and 2023, as well as the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2023. In 2021, she made history as the first Caribbean female golfer to qualify for both the USGA Girls’ Junior and the USGA Women’s Amateur Championships in the same year.

Odwin continued to break new ground in 2025 when she completed the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills and became the first Barbadian golfer to qualify for a professional golf tour.