Secret wish from the Trevi Fountain makes golfer Amy Taylor a champion

She may not have caused quite as much of a stir as Anita Ekberg in the film “La Dolce Vita”, but throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome turned out to be a brilliant move by golfer Amy Taylor.

“It was just superstition – everyone goes to the fountain and throws a coin in,” the 23-year-old from Norfolk told BBC Look East.

“One of my friends lent me 20p. I don’t know if it was because I had put in a bit more money than usual, but I wanted to win a LET event.

“I haven’t told anyone about it because when you tell someone, it usually doesn’t come true.

“I kept it to myself and only revealed it in my speech after the victory. But there was definitely a magical feeling that came with it.”

Despite finishing fourth in a LET Access event the week before, the win still came out of the blue for Taylor, as she had failed to finish in the top 20 on the main tour earlier this year.

She said: “My game started to develop to where I wanted it to be. When I arrived in Italy I still had a few things I wanted to work on, but sometimes golf just clicks and this was just one of those weeks for me.”

“It was very overwhelming. It took me a few days to sink in. It was a really incredible feeling. I’m just so happy I did it. It really changed my season.”

Taylor began playing at Bawburgh Golf Club near Norwich at the age of nine and five years later became the youngest winner of the Ladies’ County Championship title.

However, for the next step towards fulfilling her dream of becoming a working professional, she decided to study in the USA at Texas Tech University.

“Going to college was the best thing. It really prepared me well for life on tour,” she said.

“You get used to travelling, arranging accommodation and things like that, and you play against some of the best amateur players in the world, which really prepares you well for the transition to professional golf.

“For me, America is the best bet. It’s definitely becoming more popular, the facilities there are on a whole new level and I think the money they put into the sport is crazy. We’ve got nothing like it in the UK so when the opportunity comes in America, you really can’t pass it up.

“I took part in the entrance for half a year in 2022 and this is my second full year on the LET. Studying in college prepared me well for this. If I hadn’t done that, I would have struggled more with homesickness.”

After her first LET win a few weekends ago, Taylor is now back in England for the Aramco Team Series event at Centurion Golf Club in Hertfordshire.

And she hopes that the work she did on her game last winter will continue to pay off with positive results through the end of 2024.

She added: “I’ve been working with my coach quite a bit in the offseason. We’ve been focusing on certain areas where I wasn’t as good as I should be and (before Italy) I saw improvements in those stats but not necessarily in the results themselves.

“I just tried to draw confidence from it. I started the week with a good feeling and somehow everything worked out, which is not always the case.

“I’m definitely the center of attention. But my goals remain the same. I just want to try to improve every day.”

“I definitely feel more confident when I go to events. Just knowing that I can compete gives me more confidence in my game, more confidence in myself.”

“It’s hard to have confidence without results, so the win helped us a lot.”