Pia Babnik

Pia Babnik (born 2 January 2004) is a Slovenian professional golfer. She won the 2019 R&A Girls Amateur Championship. In 2020, 16 years old, she joined the Ladies European Tour, where she won two tournaments the year after. 18 years old, she finished third at one of the professional major championships, the 2022 Chevron Championship.

She has won national titles in Slovenia all age groups, and has won many international junior competitions.

At 15 years old, Babnik 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. Only Ireland's Leona Maguire at a mere 14 in 2009 had been a younger champion. 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 Women's Amateur Championship and the Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship.

Babnik 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.

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 Laisné.

In June 2021, she won the Jabra Ladies Open 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 in Rancho Mirage, California. With a six-under-par score of 66 in the final round, Babnik advanced to third place, behind Jennifer Kupcho and Jessica Korda, 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 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

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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 at the end of each calendar year.

Year Ranking Source 2019 1,141 2020 492 2021 106 2022 67 2024 302 2024 216

Team appearances Amateur European Girls' Team Championship (representing Slovenia): 2017 European Ladies' Team Championship (representing Slovenia): 2018, 2019 Mediterranean Games (representing Slovenia): 2018 Junior Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2019 Junior Vagliano Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 2019 (winners)

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