Katja Pogačar (born 12 April 1994) is a Slovenian

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

and the

Symetra Tour The Epson Tour, previously known as the LPGA Futures Tour, and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed Futures Tour and between 2012 and 2021 as the Symetra Tour, is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour ...

Amateur career

Pogačar started playing golf at the age of 6 and was the top ranked female junior golfer in Slovenia between 2008 and 2012, winning the Slovenian Junior Championships four times in that period. She won the Leone di San Marco in 2012, the Hungarian Ladies Amateur in 2012, and the Czech Amateur Championship in 2014. Pogačar represented Slovenia between 2008 and 2016 and competed in the

European Young Masters The European Young Masters is a European amateur mixed team golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and the

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 ...

. She also represented Slovenia at the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy and was runner-up and the leading player in 2012. She also played her first professional tournament as an amateur at the Crete Ladies Open ( 2012 LET Access Series) finishing T-4. After graduating from Gimnazija Poljane in 2013, Pogačar attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' with a B.Sc. in Mathematics in May 2017. She played collegiate golf with the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

as a student athlete from 2014 to 2017 and won three

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Pogačar was a three-time WGCA All-American Scholar, two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, two-time second team All-Big Ten selection (2014 and 2017), and was All-Big Ten First Team pick in 2015 and 2016.

Professional career

Pogačar made her professional debut in 2017 at the

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

Qualifier in St. Louis, Missouri. She ended her first professional year by earning her Ladies European Tour membership, finishing T-19 at the LET Final Qualifying School tournament. She began playing on the

LET Access Series The LET Access Series (LETAS) is a professional golf tour for women and the official development tour to the Ladies European Tour. Launched in 2010, the LET Access Series provides players with an opportunity to compete and progress on to the LET ...

(LETAS) and became the first Slovenian to play on the Ladies European Tour (LET) in 2018. In 2019, Pogačar came close to her first professional win at the ActewAGL Canberra Classic, sharing the lead with

Anne Van Dam Anne van Dam (born 2 October 1995) is a Dutch professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour, where she has five wins. She played in the 2019 Solheim Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympics. Career Van Dam turned professiona ...

going into the final round, eventually finishing second. The same year, she also became the first Slovenian to qualify and play on the

Amateur wins

*Slovenian Junior Championship: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 *Leone di San Marco: 2012 *Hungarian Ladies Amateur: 2012 *Czech Amateur Championship: 2014 *Slovenian Ladies Amateur: 2013, 2015

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Slovenia):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

(representing Slovenia): 2008, 2009, 2010 *

(representing Slovenia): 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pogacar, Katja Slovenian female golfers Ohio State Buckeyes women's golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Sportspeople from Ljubljana 1994 births Living people