Leslie Cloots (born 1994) is a

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 ...

from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

who plays on 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 ...

. She was runner-up at the 2014

British Ladies Amateur The Women's Amateur Championship, previously known as the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union. It is organised by The R&A, which merged with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017. Until the dawn of th ...

and the 2016

European Ladies Amateur 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 World Amateur Golf Ranking for men ...

Amateur career

Cloots was born and raised in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium, where her home club is Ternesse G&CC. At the age of 13, she started competing in international amateur events. Cloots was a member of the Belgium National Team and was part of 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 ...

squad in

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 ...

and

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 ...

. She also appeared at 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 ...

in 2011 and 2012, and the

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 ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

. Cloots attended

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

from 2013 to 2017, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She played for the

North Carolina Tar Heels women's golf The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

team and led the school in scoring average as a sophomore, junior and senior. Cloots excelled individually, however she recorded more second-place finishes than victories. She was runner-up at the Omnium Classic of Belgium behind

Manon De Roey Manon De Roey (born 12 December 1991) is a professional golfer from Belgium who plays on the Ladies European Tour. In 2022, she won the Aramco Team Series – Bangkok individual title. Amateur career De Roey started playing golf at age 11 and ...

in 2011. In 2012, she was a semi-finalist at 2012 Belgian National Match Play, and runner-up at the 2012 King's Prize, an event she won in 2013. In 2012, she was also runner-up at the Belgium National Junior Stroke Play Championship, and at the

Annika Invitational Europe The ANNIKA Invitational Europe is an annual amateur golf tournament in Sweden for European girls under 18. The tournament, founded by Annika Sörenstam in 2012, is a qualifying event for the European team in the Junior Solheim Cup since 2015 a ...

Linköping Golf Club Linköping Golf Club is a golf club located 3 km west of central Linköping in Östergötland County, Sweden. It has hosted the Scandinavian Enterprise Open on the European Tour. History The club was admitted to the Swedish Golf Federation in 1948 ...

, 2 strokes behind

Linnea Ström Linnea Ström (born 14 October 1996) is a Swedish professional golfer. She joined the U.S.-based LPGA Tour after graduating from the Symetra Tour as 2018 Rookie of the Year. Amateur career Ström became a member of the Swedish National Golf T ...

. In 2013, she was runner-up at the Belgian International Amateur, 2 strokes behind

Laura Gonzalez Escallon Laura Gonzalez Escallon (born 6 October 1990) is a professional golfer from Belgium who has played on the LPGA Tour and the Symetra Tour. Amateur career Gonzalez was a member of the Belgium National Team and won the 2008 Girls Amateur Champ ...

. In 2014, she lost the final of the

Emily Kristine Pedersen Emily Kristine Pedersen (born 7 March 1996) is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour. She had a successful amateur career winning the 2013 International European Ladies Amateur Championship and the 20 ...

, 3 and 1. Both in 2015 and 2016, Cloots was runner-up at the Belgian International Amateur & National Stroke Play Championship. In 2016, Cloots captured stroke-play medalist honors at the

. She was runner-up at the

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 Hook Golf Club in Sweden, one stroke behind

Bronte Law Bronte May Law (born 12 March 1995) is an English professional golfer. Her maiden LPGA Tour victory, her first win as a professional, came in May 2019 at the Pure Silk Championship in Virginia. Her second professional victory occurred in Octob ...

, after leading all the way until a final round of 74.

Professional career

Cloots joined the

in 2017. She went from making one cut in 11 starts in 2017 to making nine cuts in 15 starts in 2021. Her best finish is a tie for 6th at the

Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic The Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic was an event on the Symetra Tour, the LPGA's developmental tour. It a part of the Symetra Tour's schedule from 2015 to 2021. It aws held at Brook-Lea Country Club, designed by Donald Ross, outside Rochest ...

. She made her

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

debut at the 2021

LPGA Mediheal Championship The LPGA Mediheal Championship is a women's professional golf tournament in California on the LPGA Tour. A new event in 2018, it was held at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, an adjacent suburb south of San Francisco. The course hosted the ...

following Monday qualifying. She missed the cut and failed in her bid to join

in qualifying for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Since 2018, Cloots hosts the Birdiecast podcast about life on tour together with 2020 LPGA Tour rookie

Maia Schechter Maia (; Ancient Greek: Μαῖα; also spelled Maie, ; la, Maia), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, one of the major Greek gods, by Zeus, the king of Olympus. Family Maia is the daugh ...

Amateur wins

*2013 King's Prize Source:

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Belgium): 2011, 2012 *

(representing Belgium):

Source:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cloots, Leslie Belgian female golfers North Carolina Tar Heels women's golfers Sportspeople from Antwerp Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 1994 births Living people