Pia Babnik Explained

Pia Babnik
Birth Date:2 January 2004
Birth Place:Ljubljana, Slovenia
Height:5 ft 11 in
Residence:Ljubljana, Slovenia
Yearpro:2020
Tour:Ladies European Tour (joined 2020)
Prowins:2
Letwins:2
Anainspiration:3rd: 2022
Lpga:CUT: 2022
Wusopen:T29: 2024
Wbritopen:CUT: 2021, 2022
Evian:T54: 2022

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.[1] 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.[2] [3]

She has won national titles in Slovenia 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 in Belgium, and made the cut. She represented Slovenia at the 2017 European Girls' Team Championship and would do so again at the 2018 and 2019 European Ladies' Team Championship. In 2019, at age 15, she won the individual title, ahead of last years winner and world amateur number one, Frida Kinhult.

Babnik set a record low score in the 2018 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]

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.[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]

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.

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.[8]

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.[9]

In June 2021, she won the Jabra Ladies Open after a playoff with Annabel Dimmock.[10] In November 2021, she secured her second Ladies European Tour title at the Aramco Team Series – Jeddah[11]

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.[12] [13]

Amateur wins

Source:[14]

Professional wins (2)

Ladies European Tour wins (2)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory
Runner-up
16 Jun 2021Jabra Ladies Open69-70-70=209 −4Playoff Annabel Dimmock
212 Nov 2021Aramco Team Series – Jeddah (individual event)70-65-65=200 −161 stroke Olivia Cowan

Results in LPGA majors

Results not in chronological order before 2023.

Tournament 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chevron Championship3CUT
U.S. Women's OpenT44T29
Women's PGA ChampionshipCUT
The Evian ChampionshipCUTT54
Women's British OpenCUTCUT
CUT = missed the half-way cut
T = tied

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
0 0 1 1 1 1 2 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Totals 0 0 1 1 1 1 9 4

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year Ranking Source
2019 1,141 [15]
2020 492 [16]
2021 106 [17]
2022 44^ [18]

^ as of 18 April 2022

Team appearances

Amateur

Source:[19] [20]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pia Babnik Player Profile . Ladies European Tour . 14 October 2020.
  2. Web site: Pia Babnik Family . The Parentage . 1 February 2023.
  3. Web site: European Boys' Team Championship – European Golf Association . 22 January 2023.
  4. Web site: Tarragona 2018 – Golf . 29 June 2018.
  5. Web site: Babnik completes wire-to-wire win at 2019 Helen Holm . Royal Troon . 14 October 2020.
  6. Web site: Pia Babnik demolishes the field at Royal Troon with a 66 for a seven-shot Helen Holm triumph . The Courier . 14 October 2020.
  7. Web site: Teenager Pia Babnik makes LET debut . LET Access Series . 14 October 2020.
  8. Web site: Teenager Babnik secures LET card . . 14 October 2020.
  9. Web site: 2020 Lavaux Ladies Open ]. LET Access Series . 14 October 2020.
  10. Web site: Babnik Victorious At Jabra Ladies Open . Ladies European Tour . 6 June 2021.
  11. News: Aramco Team Series: Emily Pedersen and Pia Babnik the big winners in Jeddah . 29 March 2022 . Sky Sports . 12 November 2021.
  12. Web site: Pia Babnik . ESPN . 4 April 2022.
  13. Web site: April 4, 2022 . Chevron Championship: Jennifer Kupcho wins first women's major of 2022 . BBC Sport . 1 February 2023.
  14. Web site: Player Profile Pia Babnik . . 14 October 2020.
  15. Web site: Women's World Golf Rankings . December 30, 2019.
  16. Web site: Women's World Golf Rankings . December 28, 2020.
  17. Web site: Women's World Golf Rankings . December 27, 2021.
  18. Web site: Women's World Golf Rankings . April 18, 2022.
  19. Web site: European Girls' Team Championship . EGA . 14 October 2020.
  20. Web site: European Ladies' Team Championship . EGA . 14 October 2020.