Laetitia Beck
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Laetitia Beck ( he, לטיסיה בק; born February 5, 1992) is an Israeli
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 ...
. She made her professional debut at the 2014
Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...
. Beck has won the Israeli Open Golf Championship five times, including for the first time when she was 12 years of age. She also won
gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
s in golf in both the 2009 and 2013
Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...
. Beck attended
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
from 2010–2014, where she golfed for the Blue Devils. In 2011, she was voted the
Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
Rookie of the Year, in 2013 and 2014 she was an All-American, and for her college career she had a 73.58 stroke average (10th-best in school history). She is the first Israeli to compete in an
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 ...
event, and in December 2014 became the first Israeli to qualify as a fully-fledged PGA or LPGA Tour player. Beck competed for
Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee of Israel confirmed a team of 47 athletes, 22 men and 25 wom ...
.


Early and personal life

Beck was born 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 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 ...
. She is
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and keeps
kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
, on and off the road. Her parents are Liliane and Jean Claude, who are keen recreational golfers, and she has one brother (Yoni) and two sisters (Liora and twin sister Olivia). Beck and her family
immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
to
Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...
,
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, an affluent town midway between the cities of
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
and
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
on the
Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the eas ...
, when she was six years old. It is the only city in Israel with an 18-hole golf course,
Caesarea Golf Club The Caesarea Golf Club was established in January 1961 by the Rothschild family. Past and present When James Armand de Rothschild visited the Roman ruins in Caesarea, they reminded him of the golf courses back in Scotland, and as a veteran golfe ...
, and she grew up walking distance from it. She began playing golf there at the Caesarea Golf Academy when she was nine years old. She excelled in both golf and tennis when she was young. Looking for tougher competition in golf, Beck left for the United States as a teenager. For high school, starting at the age of 14 she attended the
IMG Pendleton School IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a boa ...
in
Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries A settlement established by Maroons or escaped sl ...
, Florida. She graduated in 2010. Beck resides in Caesarea, Israel. When she reached 18 years of age, she was enlisted in the
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
and completed her required military exams. But the army designated her to a sports prodigy status, and postponed her
military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...
until after she finishes her education in the U.S.


Golf career

Beck is the first Israeli to compete in an
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 ...
tournament, and displays the
flag of Israel The flag of Israel ( he, דגל ישראל '; ar, علم إسرائيل ') was adopted on 28 October 1948, five months after the establishment of the Israel, State of Israel. It depicts a blue hexagram on a white background, between two horizo ...
on her golf shoes (and sometimes on her hat or clubs), and a blue-and-white
magen david The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the ''seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorative ...
symbol on her golf apparel. She noted: "When I play golf I'm very proud to represent Israel. My goal is to represent Israel and the Jewish people."


2004–2010

Beck won her first Israeli Ladies Championship at the age of 12, at the Israel Open Golf Tournament. In May 2005, at the age of 13, she won the Israel Open Golf Championship for the second year in a row. Seven months later, she made a
hole-in-one In golf, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in American English) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. A ball hit from a tee following a lost ball, out-of-bounds, or water hazard is not a ho ...
on the first day of the Doral Open in Florida. In 2008, she was again Israeli women's champion and won the 2008 Rolex Israel Open Championship. Beck also won the Junior Israel Open Championship, the University of Florida Championship, her section of the Doral Silver Classic Tournament, and finished third at the 2008 Girl's British Amateur Championship (and was awarded a first-place trophy in the category of Eastern Europe and Middle East Youth). That year, she was also chosen as one of Israel's sportswomen of the decade, by Israel's Culture and Sport Ministry. In 2009, at the age of 17 Beck finished in second place at the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy in Scotland, one stroke behind the winner. That year, she also won the Israel Junior and Ladies Championships and the 2009 Doral Publix Junior Classic (with a 7-under-par 54-hole total of 209). Beck won the 2010 Verizon Junior Heritage by two shots with rounds of 73 and 74 in
Hilton Head Island Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of C ...
, South Carolina. She was named ''
Golfweek ''Golfweek'' is a golf magazine and digital media outlet based in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is part of Gannett's USA Today Network. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1975 by Charley Stine and was originally named ''Florida ...
s Player of the Week on February 8, 2010. Later in February she took second place at the Annika Invitational. She was listed No. 5 in the ''Golfweek''/Sagarin Performance Index in May 2010, and that month she took second in the Thunderbird International Junior in
Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...
. In June she won the Caesarea Junior Golf Championship. Beck attended
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
on a golf scholarship from 2010–2014, and majored in psychology. She played for the Duke Blue Devils beginning with the 2010–11 campaign. Duke's coach described her as "a very hard worker" who "has a beautiful, powerful golf swing." In September 2010, she was ranked #4 in Ladies European Amateur rankings, appeared on the 2010 ''Golfweek'' Players-to-Watch list, and was ranked third-best freshman. In October, Beck was named 1 of 12 Rolex Junior First-team All-Americans by the
American Junior Golf Association The American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) is a "501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf." AJGA is conside ...
. She was also ranked #2 among US-based female youth golfers, and #6 among all US female golfers.


2011–2014

In March 2011, she took third at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate in New Orleans. Beck was named
Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
(ACC) Golfer of the Month for April 2011, after a third-place finish at the Liz Murphey Collegiate. She registered a 73.75 stroke average during her freshman 2010–11 season, sixth in the ACC and tops among freshmen. In May 2011, the ACC named Beck the ACC Rookie of the Year in a vote of the league's nine head coaches. She followed, among others, former Blue Devils
Beth Bauer Beth Bauer Grace (born March 15, 1980) is an American former professional golfer. Bauer was born in Largo, Florida. As an amateur, she won the 1997 U.S. Girls' Junior and in 1998 and 1999 she earned back-to-back victories at the North and South ...
(1999),
Liz Janangelo Elizabeth Janangelo (born October 12, 1983) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the Futures Tour. Early life and amateur career Born and raised in West Hartford, Connecticut, Janangelo began playing golf at age two. At age ...
(2003),
Brittany Lang Brittany Lang (born August 22, 1985) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. She has won one major championship, the 2016 U.S. Women's Open. Amateur career Born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in McKinney, Texas, Lang ...
(2004), and
Amanda Blumenherst Amanda Blumenherst (born November 4, 1986) is an American professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She was a three-time National Player of the Year at Duke University and won the U.S. Women's Amateur title in 2008. In 2013, ...
(2006). She was also named to the 12-person All-ACC squad, and to the 2010–11 ACC Academic Honor Roll, for academic excellence as a student-athlete. In August 2011, she qualified to participate as an amateur in the
CN Canadian Women's Open The CP Women's Open (french: Open féminin du Canada) is a women's professional golf tournament managed by Golf Canada. It has been Canada's national championship tournament since its founding in 1973, and is an official event on the LPGA Tour. ...
in Montreal, Canada. Beck finished tied for 70th in her first
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 ...
event. In September, she became the first woman to defeat all men to win the Israel Open Golf Championship, as the Caesarea Golf Club allowed her to compete against men rather than women, so that she could play stiffer competition. In October 2011, Beck declined a request to join the UNC Tar-Heels Invitational 54-hole competition, because it conflicted with the holiest Jewish holiday of
Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...
, the Day of Atonement. Instead, she spent the day fasting and praying. She said: "My Judaism is very important to me, and I keep all the other holidays. On Yom Kippur, no matter what, I have to fast." Her decision prompted comparisons to baseball pitcher
Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; born Sanford Braun; December 30, 1935) is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. He has been hailed as one of t ...
not playing a game in the
1965 World Series The 1965 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1965 season. The 62nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the Amer ...
. In the 2011–12 season, as a sophomore she had a 74.97 stroke average, three top-10 finishes, and for the second time was an All-ACC selection. In April 2013, Beck took second at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, in
Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
. In August, ''
Golf World ''Golf World'' was a weekly magazine covering the game of golf published by Condé Nast. It was in circulation between 1947 and 2014. Currently, ''Golf World'' still available in digital form and from May 13, 2019 to April 8, 2022, the brand has b ...
'' cited her as one of the "top 50 players to watch". In the 2012–13 season, as a junior she had a 73.16 stroke average, and earned ''Golfweek'' All-America and
National Golf Coaches Association The Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA), formerly known as the National Golf Coaches Association,About WG ...
(NGCA) Honorable Mention All-America honors, and for the third time was an All-ACC selection. In the 2013–14 season, as a senior Beck had a 72.29 stroke average, and earned WGCA First Team All-America and ''Golfweek'' Second Team All-America, for the fourth straight year was an All-ACC selection, and for the third time was named to the All-ACC Women's Golf Academic Team. She helped lead Duke to the
NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships The NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship, played in the month of May, is the annual competition in women's collegiate golf for individuals and teams from universities in Division I. Golf was one of twelve women's sports added to the NCAA cha ...
and the ACC title. She placed 2nd in the NCAA Championship, tied for 3rd at the Tar Heel Invitational, and ranked 14th in the final Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. She graduated from Duke in 2014. Beck totaled 45 rounds of even or under par over her Duke career (tied for 5th-best on Duke's career record charts), had a 73.58 career stroke average (10th-best in school history), and was the 11th Duke golfer to earn All-ACC accolades all four years.


Pro career (2014–present)

In July 2014, at the age of 22 Beck became the first Israeli woman to play golf as a professional, making her professional debut at the 2014
Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...
. "It means a lot to me," she said. "It's the first time for me and my country." In December 2014, at the age of 22 Beck became the first Israeli golfer to qualify as a fully-fledged PGA or LPGA Tour player. She finished T-11 at the
LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...
in Daytona Beach, Florida, to earn her tour card for the
2015 LPGA Tour The 2015 LPGA Tour was a series of professional golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world. The Tour began in Ocala, Florida on January 28 and ended on November 22 at the Gold Course of the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Flori ...
. In 2015, she played 14 events and made 8 cuts. At the
Manulife LPGA Classic The Manulife LPGA Classic was a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. The 72-hole, full-field event was first played in June 2012 at the Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The title sponsor was Manulife Financia ...
in 2015, Beck was one shot off the lead in the first round, just behind
Cheyenne Woods Cheyenne Nicole Woods (born July 25, 1990) is an American professional golfer. Early life Woods was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a daughter of Susan Woods and Earl Dennison Woods Jr., who is golfer Tiger Woods' half-brother, making Cheyenne ...
. She ended with her best finish that year tied for 19th. In January 2017, Beck came in 8th at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic, with a 19 under par 273. In January 2018, she came in 10th at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic, with a five under par in three rounds 214. In March 2019, she came in tied for 6th in the IOA Championship presented by Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, with a 1 under par in three rounds 215, and in April 2019, Beck came in tied for 6th in the Windsor Golf Classic, with a 9 under par in three rounds 207. In May 2019, she came in tied for 7th in the Valley Forge Invitational, with a 9 under par in three rounds 204. In August 2019, she came in tied for 7th in the PHC Classic, with a 9 under par in three rounds 207, and tied for 5th in the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship, with a 9 under par in three rounds 207. In July 2020, Beck came in tied for 9th in the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship, with a 6 under par in three rounds 210. In May 2021, Beck tied for 2nd, one shot off the lead at the Mission Inn Resort & Club Championship, her highest professional finish!


Maccabiah Games

Beck won an individual
gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
and a team gold medal in golf at the
2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Ol ...
. She then won both an individual gold medal and a team gold medal at the
2013 Maccabiah Games The 19th Maccabiah ( he, המכביה התשע-עשרה) were held during July 18 to 30, 2013. The Games brought together 7,500 competing athletes, making it the third-largest international sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and ...
, shooting 69 in each of the three rounds, finishing 9-under, 15 strokes ahead of the nearest competitor and also helped Israel win gold by a stroke in the team event, over Team USA.


Olympics

Beck qualified to represent the Israeli Olympic team in golf at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics, when the sport returned to the Olympic Games. She shot 75-70-71-70, for a 286 (+2) final score, coming in tied for 31st out of 60 competitors.


Team appearances

Amateur *
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 Israel):
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 ...


See also

* List of Jewish golfers


References


External links

* *
Laetitia Beck
at the
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 ...
site *
Video: "Women's Golf: On the Green With Laetitia Beck"
May 18, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Laetitia Israeli female golfers Duke Blue Devils women's golfers LPGA Tour golfers Jewish golfers Olympic golfers of Israel Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Maccabiah Games medalists in golf Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Israel Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 2013 Maccabiah Games Jewish Israeli sportspeople Belgian Jews Belgian emigrants to Israel Israeli Jews Jewish sportspeople Belgian people of Jewish descent Israeli people of Belgian-Jewish descent Israeli expatriates in the United States Sportspeople from Antwerp People from Caesarea, Israel 1992 births Living people