Tag: Pia Babnik

Pia Babnik, the youngest player in the field at 2022 Chevron Championship, finished third in her championship debut

Pia Babnik would love to join the LPGA, but she has to finish high school first.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Califo. – Pia Babnik would love to join the LPGA, but she has to finish high school first.

At 18, the powerful Slovenian was the youngest player in the field at the 2022 Chevron Championship and still has a year and a half of school left.

“It would be great to compete among the best in the world,” said Babnik, “but long-term I want to be the best.”

Babnik, who turned pro two years ago at age 16, leaves her first trip to the California desert with a $334,972 paycheck and a solo third in her third major championship appearance.

“This course is made for her,” said Babnik’s father, Ales.

Alas, Babnik’s first trip to Mission Hills will likely be her last as the event moves to Houston next year after a 51-year run at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course.

Babnik stuffed her approached into the 18th like a player who’d done this sort of thing hundreds of times before. A two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour last year, this marked Babnik’s second trip to the U.S.

Currently ranked 109th in the Rolex Rankings, a strong showing at the desert should go a long way toward Babnik getting into the top 75 of the rankings to compete in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles next June.

Her father, a former professional badminton player for over 20 years who, like Pia, competed in the Olympics, said his daughter’s greatest strengths are her focus and speed. With the rough up this week, father and daughter agreed to dial it back about 8 mph to find more fairways at Mission Hills.

“I’m teaching her like golf a sport,” said Ales, “not golf is golf.”

Babnik recorded her first birdie in a tournament at age 4 and won at every level in Slovenia and Europe, claiming the 2019 R&A Girls Amateur Championship at Panmure before turning pro. In 2020, Babnik made the cut in every event she played on the LET. Last year, she won both the Jabra Ladies Open and Aramco Team Series – Jeddah to really begin to make a name for herself on the professional circuit.

On Sunday, Babnik chipped in for eagle on the second hole and followed it with birdie en route to a final-round 66 and 11-under 277 total.

“It was amazing,” said Babnik of the ovation she received on the 72nd hole. “The way they were cheering, it’s just unbelievable.”

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Jennifer Kupcho wins 2022 Chevron Championship for her first LPGA title, first major championship

“I had it rolling well and you’ve got to make putts in a major.”

Three years ago on this weekend, Jennifer Kupcho wowed the world with her performance in winning the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

In 2022, on the same spot on the calendar but in an entirely different environment, Kupcho claimed her first LPGA title and more importantly, her first major championship at the Chevron Championship.

Kupcho’s Saturday 64 got her to 16 under and staked her to a six-shot lead heading into the final round on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.

Winning is never easy but Kupcho, the 2018 NCAA Women’s Division I champion, had it on cruise control over the last 18 holes, building her lead to seven shots at one point. She shot a final-round 74 to finish 14 under to win by two shots.

2022 Chevron Championship
Jennifer Kupcho plays her shot from the first tee during the final round of the 2022 Chevron Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. (Photo: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports)

Kupcho at one point had her sights on the tournament’s 72-hole scoring mark of 19 under set by Dottie Pepper in 1999. Kupcho got it to 17 under with a birdie on No. 11, but back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14 essentially kept Pepper’s record intact.

On the 15h hole, Kupcho basically put the tournament on ice, stuffing her approach to about a foot, setting up a birdie to make the lead four shots once again.

Jessica Korda was the closest pursuer Sunday She fired a final-round 69 but never could get any closer than two shots. Korda settled for solo second at 12 under.

Pia Babnik and Hinako Shibuno tied for the best rounds of the day with 6-under 66s. The tournament’s defending champion, Patty Tavatanakit, who also won her first LPGA event and first major in this event one year ago, started the day at 10 under, six shots back, but managed just a 72 Sunday to finish tied for fourth.

Sunday was the LPGA’s 51st playing of this championship. The event moves next year to a spot later in the year on the calendar as well as to a different golf course. The front runner, Golfweek has learned, is The Clubs at Houston Oaks, a private golf course in Texas.

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