Laetitia Beck

Laetitia Beck (; born 5 February 1992) is an Israeli professional golfer. She made her professional debut at the 2014 Women's British Open.

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 medals in golf in both the 2009 and 2013 Maccabiah Games.

Beck attended Duke University from 2010 to 2014, where she played golf for the Blue Devils. In 2011, she was voted the Atlantic Coast Conference 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 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.

Early life In 1992, Beck was born in Antwerp, Belgium. She is Jewish, and keeps kosher, on and off the road.

Beck and her family immigrated to Caesarea, Israel, an affluent town midway between the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa on the Mediterranean coast, when she was six years old. It is the only city in Israel with an 18-hole golf course, Caesarea Golf Club, and she grew up walking distance from it.

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 in Bradenton, Florida. She graduated in 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 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). She was named Golfweek'''s Player of the Week on 8 February 2010. 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. In June, she won the Caesarea Junior Golf Championship.

Amateur career Beck attended Duke University on a golf scholarship from 2010 to 2014, and majored in psychology. She played for the Duke Blue Devils beginning with the 2010–11 campaign. She was also ranked #2 among US-based female youth golfers, and #6 among all US female golfers. thumb In March 2011, she took third at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate in New Orleans. Beck was named Atlantic Coast Conference (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 August 2011, she qualified to participate as an amateur in the CN Canadian Women's Open in Montreal, Canada. Beck finished tied for 70th in her first LPGA Tour 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. Instead, she spent the day fasting and praying.

In April 2013, Beck took second at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, in Greensboro, North Carolina. In August, Golf World 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 (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 and the ACC title.

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. She finished T-11 at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament in Daytona Beach, Florida, to earn her tour card for the 2015 LPGA Tour.

In 2015, she played 14 events and made 8 cuts. At the Manulife LPGA Classic in 2015, Beck was one shot off the lead in the first round, just behind Cheyenne Woods. She ended with her best finish that year tied for 19th.

Beck is the first Israeli to compete in an LPGA Tour tournament, and displays the flag of Israel on her golf shoes (and sometimes on her hat or clubs), and a blue-and-white magen david symbol on her golf apparel. In January 2018, she came in 10th at the same tournament, with a five-under-par in three rounds 214. In May 2019, tied for 7th in the Valley Forge Invitational, with a 9 under par in three rounds 204. Beck fired a 54-hole score of 205 with rounds of 71, 68 and a final round 5 under 66. Event conditions included wind gusts exceeding 30mph. The event had only three players finish under par. She ultimately finished 8th in the Epson Tour rankings to graduate to the LPGA Tour for 2026.

Maccabiah Games Beck won an individual gold medal and a team gold medal in golf at the 2009 Maccabiah Games. She then won both an individual gold medal and a team gold medal at the 2013 Maccabiah Games, 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.

Personal life Beck resides in Caesarea, Israel. When she reached 18 years of age, she was enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces and completed her required military exams. But the army designated her to a sports prodigy status, and postponed her military service until after she finishes her education in the U.S.

Awards and honors In 2008, Beck was chosen as one of Israel's sportswomen of the decade, by Israel's Culture and Sport Ministry. At the beginning of February 2010, she was named Golfweeks Player of the Week. In April 2011, Beck was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Golfer of the Month. In 2011, Beck earned Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year honors.

Amateur wins note: this list is incomplete 2004 Israeli Ladies Championship 2005 Israeli Ladies Championship 2008 University of Florida Championship, Israeli Ladies Championship, Junior Israel Open Championship 2009 Israel Junior Championship, Israel Ladies Championships, Doral Publix Junior Classic 2010 Verizon Junior Heritage

Professional wins (3) Epson Tour wins (1) 2025 Atlantic Beach Classic

Other wins (2) 2008 Rolex Israel Open Championship 2011 Israel Open Golf Tournament

Team appearancesAmateur''' Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Israel): 2010