Caterina Don (born 9 January 2001) is an Italian amateur golfer. She has won the World Junior Girls Championship, the Vagliano Trophy, and the

European Girls' Team Championship The European Girls' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women up to 18 organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1991. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1991 to 1999 and has bee ...

twice, and reached No. 2 in the European Golf Rankings following the 2019 summer season.

Early life

Don was born 2001 in Pinerolo near

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

in the Italian region of

Piemonte it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, and started playing golf at around age 6 after her aunt and uncle took her to a course. She was skiing competitively in her youth, but eventually decided to quit skiing and take up golf competitively.

Amateur career

She was soon drafted to the Italian National Team, and would go on the represent her country at four consecutive

s, all with great success. In 2016 and 2018 she led Italy to victory, in 2017 to a runner-up finish, and in 2019 to a third-place showing. All told, she compiled an 11–5–4 record in match play during those four events. At the 2019 event at El Saler Golf Course in Valencia, Spain, she captured medalist honors and shot 12-under 132 over 36 holes, four strokes better than the rest of the field. Don won the individual bronze at the 2016 World Junior Girls Championship, and won the team gold with

Alessia Nobilio Alessia Nobilio (born 7 September 2001) is an Italian amateur golfer. She won silver at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. Amateur career Nobilio had a successful amateur career across Europe. She won the 2016 and 2017 International Juniors of Belg ...

and

Emilie Alba Paltrinieri Emilie Alba Paltrinieri (born 1 October 2001) is an Italian amateur golfer. In 2016 she won The R&A's Girls Amateur Championship. Amateur career Paltrinieri was born in Paris, France, before her family moved to Milan, Italy when she was a young ...

in 2018. She finished 6th at the

2018 Espirito Santo Trophy The 2018 Espirito Santo Trophy took place 29 August – 1 September at Carton House Golf Club on its Montgomerie and O'Meara courses in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It was the 28th women's golf World Amateur Team Championship for the Esp ...

together with

and

. In 2019, she served as captain of the Italian team for The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Texas, leading the squad to a 5th and 7th place in the women's and co-ed divisions, respectively. She also excelled individually. In 2016, Don was runner-up at the Parco di Roma National Trophy, the Italian International Ladies Championship, and the Italian Ladies Stroke Play Championship (Isa Goldschmid Trophy). In 2017, she won the Italian Girls U18 National Championship (Roberta Bertotto Trophy) and the Italian U18 Team Championship (Emilio Pallavacino Trophy) together with

. In 2018, she beat Virginia Bossi in the final to win the Italian Girls U18 National Championship (Roberta Bertotto Trophy), but lost the final of the Italian Ladies Match Play (Giuseppe Silva Trophy) to

. In 2019, Don competed in the inaugural

Augusta National Women's Amateur The Augusta National Women's Amateur (ANWA) is a golf tournament in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, Augusta and Champions Retreat Golf Club in nearby Evans, Georgia, Evans. stroke play eve ...

in April, where she shot 2-over 218 and tied for 12th. She again lost the final of the Italian Ladies Match Play (Giuseppe Silva Trophy) at Castelconturbia Golf Club, this time to Virginia Bossi. She finished third at the 2019

European Ladies Amateur Championship The European Ladies Amateur Championship is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is organized by the European Golf Association and is one of the "elite" tournaments recognized by the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The championship was first played in ...

at Parkstone Golf Club, shooting 6-under 282 and falling one stroke shy of joining

Alice Hewson Alice Hewson (born 19 August 1997) is an English professional golfer. She won the 2019 European Ladies Amateur and joined the Ladies European Tour in 2020 to win in her first event, the Investec South African Women's Open. Amateur career Hewson ...

and Krista Junkkari in a playoff for the title. She played in the

2020 U.S. Women's Open The 2020 U.S. Women's Open was the 75th U.S. Women's Open, played December 10–14 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, having been postponed from its original date of June 4–7, 2020, on April 3, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I ...

at Champions Golf Club by virtue of being amongst the top 20 in Women's

World Amateur Golf Ranking The World Amateur Golf Ranking for men was introduced by The R&A, the governing body of the sport of golf outside the United States and Mexico, on 23 January 2007. It is based on the results of over 2,600 amateur tournaments per year (and amateurs p ...

(WAGR). She played the Champions Club's Cypress Creek Course during Thursday's opening round and was briefly tied for second on the leaderboard after a birdie at hole 3. Don was runner-up at the 2020 Italian Ladies Stroke Play Championship (Isa Goldschmid Trophy), 3 strokes behind

College career

Don competed in 59 WAGR events, recording 29 top-10s, 23 top-5s and five victories between 2015 and 2019, and reached a world rank of 6th. As a result, in 2019, Don was offered and accepted a golf scholarship to the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, majoring in mathematics. Playing with the

Georgia Bulldogs women's golf The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

team, she won the Minnesota Invitational in her collegiate debut, to become just the second Bulldog to do so since Summer Sirmons won the 1998 Auburn Tiger Invitational.

Amateur wins

*2015 Glauco Lolli Ghetti Trophy *2017 Italian Girls U18 National Championship (Roberta Bertotto Trophy), Italian U18 Team Championship (Emilio Pallavacino Trophy) (with

) *2018 Italian Girls U18 National Championship (Roberta Bertotto Trophy), Glauco Lolli Ghetti Trophy *2019 Minnesota Invitational *2020 GCAA Amateur Series - Georgia Source:

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Italy): 2016 (winners), 2017, 2018 (winners), 2019 *

Espirito Santo Trophy The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fren ...

(representing Italy):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Junior Vagliano Trophy The Junior Vagliano Trophy is an annual girls amateur golf tournament. It is co-organised by The R&A and the European Golf Association and is contested by teams representing "Great Britain and Ireland" and the "Continent of Europe". The first event ...

(representing Europe): 2017 (winners) * Vagliano Trophy (representing Europe): 2019 (winners) * The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship (representing Italy): 2019 * World Junior Girls Championship (representing Italy): 2016, 2017, 2018 (winners) *

European Ladies' Team Championship The European Ladies' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1959. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been pla ...

(representing Italy):

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Don, Caterina Italian female golfers Amateur golfers Georgia Bulldogs women's golfers Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Turin People from Pinerolo 2001 births Living people