Pia Babnik (born 2 January 2004) is a

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

professional golfer. She won the 2019 R&A

Girls Amateur Championship The Girls Amateur Championship is a golf tournament held annually in the United Kingdom. Girls need to be under 18 on 1 January in the year of the championship. Until World War II the championship was organised by a series of magazines and always ...

. In 2020, 16 years old, she joined 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 ...

, were she won two tournaments the year after. 18 years old, she finished third at one of the professional major championships, the 2022 Chevron Championship.

Early life and amateur career

Babnik started to play golf at the age of three and joined her first junior golf competition at the age of four, where she also made her first birdie. She has two younger brothers, twins Jaka and Ziga, who both represented Slovenia at the 2022

European Boys' Team Championship The European Boys' Team Championship (Jean-Louis Dupont Trophy) is a European amateur team golf championship for men up to 18 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1980 and it has been played annually since. S ...

. She has won national titles in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

all age groups, and has won many international junior competitions. Babnik played her first professional tournament at age 12 on the 2016 LET Access Series, the

CitizenGuard LETAS Trophy The Belgian LETAS Trophy is a women's professional golf tournament played as part of the LET Access Series, held in the Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern ...

in Belgium, and made the cut. She represented Slovenia at the 2017

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 ...

and would do so again at the

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and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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 ...

. In 2019, at age 15, she won the individual title, ahead of last years winner and world amateur number one,

Frida Kinhult Frida Mikaela Kinhult (born 25 September 1999) is a Swedish professional golfer. She rose to world number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking in June 2019 and won the 2020 Symetra Tour Championship to graduate to the LPGA Tour. Early life and ...

. Babnik set a record low score in the 2018 Trnovo Masters with 58 strokes (−10). At the

2018 Mediterranean Games The 2018 Mediterranean Games ( es, Juegos Mediterráneos de 2018), officially known as the XVIII Mediterranean Games ( es, XVIII Juegos Mediterráneos) and commonly known as Tarragona 2018, was an international multi-sport event held from 22 Jun ...

, she won bronze medal with

Vida Obersnel Vida means “life” in Spanish and Portuguese. It may refer to: Geography * Vida (Gradačac), village in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Lake Vida, Victoria Valley, Antarctica * U.S. settled places: ** Vida, Montana ** Vida, Oregon ** Vida, Missour ...

and Ana Belac in the women's team event. At 15 years old, Babnik played her first LET tournament, the 2019

Czech Ladies Open The Czech Ladies Open is a professional golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour, first played in 2019. The tournament is played in Beroun just outside Prague, Czech Republic. The inaugural event was held at Karlštejn Golf Resort, overlooked ...

, and again made the cut. The same year, she won the

Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship The Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship is the national women's amateur stroke play golf championship in Scotland (although entry is open to overseas golfers). It has been played annually at Royal Troon since 1973 an ...

Royal Troon Royal Troon Golf Club is a links golf course in Scotland, located in Troon, South Ayrshire, southwest of Glasgow. Founding and early years The club, which now has a total of 45 holes, was founded in 1878, initially with five holes. It lies adj ...

ahead of runner-up

Charlotte Bunel Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populou ...

of France, with a seven-shot margin of victory and a record 15-under aggregate. Only Ireland's

Leona Maguire Leona Maguire (born 30 November 1994) is an Irish professional golfer. She was ranked 1st in the world on the women's World Amateur Golf Ranking from May 2015 until May 2016 and then from August 2016 until February 2018. Maguire's 135 weeks a ...

at a mere 14 in 2009 had been a younger champion. Babnik returned to Scotland to take home the centenary

Panmure Golf Club Panmure Golf Club is a golf club close to the village of Barry, Angus, Scotland. It is one of the clubs that originally helped purchase the Amateur Championship trophy, and is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world, dating back to 1845. It ...

, defeating Austria's

Isabella Holpfer Isabella Holpfer (born 6 January 2001) is an amateur golfer from Austria. She won the Junior Vagliano Trophy in 2015 and 2017, and was a finalist in The R&A's Girls Amateur Championship in 2018 and 2019. Amateur career Holpfer was born in Vienna ...

in the 18-hole final, 4 and 3. Through her victory, she earned exemptions into Final Qualifying for the

2020 Women's British Open The 2020 Women's British Open was played from 20 to 23 August in Scotland at Royal Troon Golf Club. It was the 44th Women's British Open, the 20th as a major championship on the LPGA Tour, and the first at Royal Troon Golf Club. The tournament w ...

, as well as

the Womens Amateur Championship 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 the ...

and the

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 ...

Championship. Babnik qualified for the

Junior Solheim Cup The Junior Solheim Cup is a version of the Solheim Cup for girls aged 12 to 18. It was inaugurated in 2002. It is currently officially called the PING Junior Solheim Cup. The Junior Solheim Cup follows a similar format to The Solheim Cup and featu ...

and represented Europe in the competition at Gleneagles, and also in the continent's

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 ...

team which triumphed at

Royal St George's Golf Club The Royal St George's Golf Club located in Sandwich, Kent, England, is a golf club in the United Kingdom and one of the courses on The Open Championship rotation and is the only Open rota golf course to be located in South East England. It has ...

. Babnik became

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 ...

ranked at the age of ten and finished 2019 in fifth place on the WAGR ranking and completed her amateur career with a +7.0 handicap.

Professional career

Babnik illustrated her talent by securing a card at the final stage of LET Qualifying School at age 16, the youngest in the field at the

La Manga Club La Manga Club is a sports and leisure resort located in the south-eastern region of Spain, Murcia, south of La Manga, and bordered by the Mar Menor and Calblanque Regional Park. The resort complex opened in 1972 and covers an area of 1,400 a ...

in Spain. She finished well inside the top 20 at 11th place to earn her playing rights on the

2020 Ladies European Tour The 2020 Ladies European Tour was a series of golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world. The tournaments were sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). The season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with many tourname ...

. By October 2020, she had made the cut in all her LET starts and was 25th on the Order of Merit. She finished top-10 at the

Women's NSW Open The Women's NSW Open (Women's New South Wales Open) is a women's professional golf tournament held in New South Wales, Australia. It was first played on the ALPG Tour in 2006. Beginning in 2018, the tournament was co-sanctioned by the Ladies Europe ...

and the

and came close to winning the

Lavaux Ladies Open The Lavaux Ladies Open is a women's professional golf tournament in the LET Access Series, held since 2018 in Lavaux, the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Played at Lavaux Golf Club located a few miles from Lake Geneva between Lausanne and Montreux, ...

, a LET Access Series event in Switzerland, but lost a playoff to

Agathe Laisné Agathe Laisné (born 26 May 1999) is a French professional golfer. She won the 2017 European Ladies Amateur and the 2023 Florida's Natural Charity Classic. Amateur career Laisné was born in Paris and played for the French National Team since t ...

. In June 2021, she won the

Jabra Ladies Open The Jabra Ladies Open is a professional golf tournament, introduced on the Ladies European Tour schedule in 2018. The tournament is played at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France and has since 2014 served as European qualifying competition for the ...

after a playoff with Annabel Dimmock. In November 2021, she secured her second Ladies European Tour title at the Aramco Team Series – Jeddah Babnik reached her best finish so far at one of the major championships in women's golf, at the 2022 Chevron Championship at

Mission Hills Country Club The Mission Hills Country Club is a country club in the western United States, located in Rancho Mirage, California, southeast of Palm Springs. Overview Among the facilities at the club are 3 championship golf courses (54 holes), 27 tennis court ...

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and located ...

. With a six-under-par score of 66 in the final round, Babnik advanced to third place, behind

Jennifer Kupcho Jennifer Anne Kupcho (born May 14, 1997) is an American professional golfer. Amateur career As a junior at Wake Forest University, she was named the winner of the Honda Sports Award for golf. As a senior, Kupcho won the inaugural Augusta Nation ...

and

Jessica Korda Jessica Regina Korda ( cs, Jessica Kordová) (born February 27, 1993) is an Czech-American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. Amateur career Korda was a member of the 2009 U.S. Junior Solheim Cup and the 2010 U.S. Curtis Cup teams. ...

, and earned $334,972.

Amateur wins

*2016 Evolve Spanish Junior Championship *2017 Slovenian Junior Masters, The German Futures Girls Division, Slovenian Amateur Championship, Srixon Norwegian Winter Open (Mar Menor) *2018 Trnovo Masters, Winter Series El Valle *2019

, Evolve Spanish Junior Championship, Slovenian National Match Play, US Kids - European Championship, Atlantic Youth Trophy, Portuguese Intercollegiate Open Source:

Professional wins (2)

Ladies European Tour wins (2)

Results in LPGA majors

''Results not in chronological order before 2023.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
T = tied

Summary

World ranking

Position in

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by eight women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (L ...

at the end of each calendar year. ^ as of 18 April 2022

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Slovenia): 2017 *

(representing Slovenia):

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

(representing Slovenia):

(representing Europe): 2019 *

(representing the Continent of Europe): 2019 (winners) Source:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babnik, Pia Slovenian female golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Olympic golfers for Slovenia Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games medalists in golf Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Slovenia Competitors at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Sportspeople from Ljubljana 2004 births Living people 21st-century Slovenian women