Pia Babnik

Pia Babnik (born 2 January 2004) is a Slovenian professional golfer. She won the 2019 R&A Girls Amateur Championship and joined the Ladies European Tour (LET) in 2020 at only 16 years old.[1]

Pia Babnik
Personal information
Born (2004-01-02) 2 January 2004
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Nationality Slovenia
ResidenceLjubljana, Slovenia
Career
Turned professional2020
Current tour(s)Ladies European Tour (joined 2020)

Amateur career

Babnik started to play golf at age three and joined her first junior golf competition aged four, where she made her first birdie. She won all age groups national titles in Slovenia and won many international junior competitions.[1]

2016

Babnik played her first professional tournament at age 12 on the 2016 LET Access Series, the CitizenGuard LETAS Trophy in Belgium, and made the cut.

2017

She represented Slovenia at the 2017 European Girls' Team Championship and would do so again at the 2018 and 2019 European Ladies' Team Championship.[2][3]

2018

Babnik set a record low score in the Trnovo Masters with 58 strokes (−10).[1] At the 2018 Mediterranean Games, she won bronze medal with Vida Obersnel and Ana Belac in the women's team event.[4]

2019

At 15 years old, she played her first LET tournament, the 2019 Czech Ladies Open, and again made the cut. The same year, she won the Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship at Royal Troon ahead of runner-up Charlotte Bunel of France, with a seven-shot margin of victory and a record 15-under aggregate.[5] Only Ireland's Leona Maguire at a mere 14 in 2009 had been a younger champion.[6] Babnik returned to Scotland to take home the centenary Girls Amateur Championship at Panmure Golf Club, defeating Austria's Isabella Holpfer in the 18-hole final, 4 and 3. Through her victory, she earned exemptions into Final Qualifying for the 2020 Women's British Open, as well as the Womens Amateur Championship and the Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship.[7]

She qualified for the Junior Solheim Cup and represented Europe in the competition at Gleneagles, and also in the continent's Junior Vagliano Trophy team which triumphed at Royal St George's Golf Club.

Babnik became World Amateur Golf Ranking 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.[8]

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 in Spain. She finished well inside the top 20 at 11th place to earn her playing rights on the 2020 Ladies European Tour.[9]

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 and the Czech Ladies Open and came close to winning the Lavaux Ladies Open, a LET Access Series event in Switzerland, but lost a playoff to Agathe Laisne.[10]

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 Girls Amateur Championship, Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship, Evolve Spanish Junior Championship, Slovenian National Match Play, US Kids - European Championship, Atlantic Youth Trophy, Portuguese Intercollegiate Open

Source:[8]

Team appearances

Amateur

Source:[2][3]

References
  1. "Pia Babnik Player Profile". Ladies Euopean Tour. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  2. "European Girls' Team Championship". EGA. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  3. "European Ladies' Team Championship". EGA. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  4. "Tarragona 2018 – Golf". Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  5. "Babnik completes wire-to-wire win at 2019 Helen Holm". Royal Troon. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  6. "Pia Babnik demolishes the field at Royal Troon with a 66 for a seven-shot Helen Holm triumph". The Courier. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  7. "Teenager Pia Babnik makes LET debut". LET Access Series. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  8. "Player Profile Pia Babnik". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  9. "Teenager Babnik secures LET card". The R&A. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  10. "2020 Lavaux Ladies Open]". LET Access Series. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
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