Albane Valenzuela's life and career has been nothing if not diverse, with a family background encompassing several cultures and interests that go far beyond the golf course.
The Swiss star rose to prominence in a brilliant amateur career after being raised in a golfing family. Here are 20 things you may not know about the LPGA Tour pro.
1. Swiss star Albane Valenzuela was born in New York City on 17 December 1997.
2. She comes from a keen golfing family - her Mexican dad, Alberto, played for UCLA’s golf team, while here French mother, Diane, was a 10-handicap. Her parents met in 1991 at Evian Golf Club, where Alberto was playing.
3. Valenzuela moved to Mexico at a young age and began playing at the age of three.
4. In 2003, the family moved to Geneva in Switzerland and Albane became a Swiss citizen at the age of 14.
5. Just one week later, she competed for her country at the European Championship.
6. Valenzuela shared the low amateur at the 2016 ANA Inspiration (now the Chevron Championship), finishing T65 in her maiden Major start.
7. Her impressive 2016 continued with a T67 a the US Women’s Open and two top-five finishes on the LET.
8. While studying at Stanford, she also reached the 2016 Rio Olympics as an amateur, where she finished T21.
9. Among her other amateur achievements were reaching second in the World Golf Amateur Rankings and making it to two US Women’s Amateur finals, in 2017 and 2019.
10. She was named the Pac-12 Women’s Golfer of the Year in 2019.
11. Valenzuela turned professional in late 2019, before graduating in 2020 with a degree in political science.
12. She earned her LPGA Tour card after finishing fifth at Q-Series in 2019.
13. Her second Olympics appearance came at the 2020 Tokyo Games, where she finished T18 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club tournament.
14. Valenzuela’s first top-10 Major finish came with a T4 at the 2023 Chevron Championship.
15. She qualified for her third Olympics for the 2024 edition in at Le Golf National Paris.
16. Albane is the co-founder of an autism charity, Alexis For Autism, named for brother Alex, who was diagnosed with autism aged three. Nowadays, he also plays golf at SMU.
17. Alex has also frequently caddied for Albane, including at the 2020 Olympics.
18. Albane is an ambassador for women’s apparel brand Athleta.
19. She currently resides in Dallas, Texas.
20. She is fluent in Spanish, English and French and can speak some German.
