Pia Babnik remains one of the most promising young golfers in the world and is already a winner on the Ladies European Tour. Discover more about the Slovenian player via these facts about her life and career so far.
Pia Babnik Facts
1. Pia Babnik was born on January 2, 2004 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2. Babink first started playing golf at the age of three after her dad introduced her to the game and initially taught her how to play.
3. She competed in her first junior golf competition at four years old, and finished third in a national championship for under-8s. Babnik said she hit her first ever birdie in that tournament,
4. According to her Ladies European Tour bio, Babnik regularly played junior competitions in Slovenia and won national titles at all age groups.
5. Aside from golf, Babnik also enjoys playing badminton with her family, and she also competed in the sport while at school. She also loves skiing, table tennis, swimming, yoga, drawing and painting.
6. Pia played the European US Kids Championship eight times when she was younger, finishing second on the first two occasions before winning six consecutive titles in a row.
7. Tiger Woods is Babnik's role model. She said of Woods: "I think it was because he was the best in what he did, and he won a lot of tournaments and people love him – they still do! He’s enjoyable to watch and I really like watching those at the top of their game because you can learn a lot from them."
8. The Slovenian played in her first professional tournament at just 12-years-old on the 2016 Ladies European Tour Access Series, at the CitizenGuard LETAS Trophy in Belgium. She made the cut on her debut, and wasn't even a teenager at that stage.
9. Babnik has 14 amateur trophies to her name between 2016 to 2019, not including the host of wins she managed in local tournaments in Slovenia. Among them is the 2018 Trnovo Masters, which she managed by setting a record low score of 58 strokes (10-under).
10. She picked up a bronze medal at the 2018 Mediterranean Games alongside Vida Obersnel and Ana Belac in the women's team event.
11. The Slovenian first became World Amateur Golf Ranking ranked at the age of ten, and finished 2019 in fifth place on the ranking when she completed her amateur career at 15-years-old.
12. Babnik played her first Ladies European Tour tournament at the 2019 Czech Ladies Open, and once again made the cut.
13. She also won the Girls Amateur Championship at Panmure Golf Club that same year, meaning she earned exemptions into Final Qualifying for the 2020 Women's British Open, the Women's Amateur Championship, and the Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship.
14. Babnik secured her Ladies European Tour card at the final stage of LET Qualifying school at 16-years-old, which made her the youngest in the field at the La Manga Club in Spain. She finished 11th to earn her card for the 2020 Ladies European Tour, with a top-20 place necessary.
15. Babnik finished her rookie season 25th in the Order of Merit.
16. Babnik won her first professional event in June 2021 at the Jabra Ladies Open, after a playoff with Annabel Dimmock. She then claimed her second later that season at the Aramco Team Series - Jeddah.
17. She has two younger twin brothers, Jaka and Ziga, who also play competitive golf and represented Slovenia at the 2022 European Boys' Team Championship.
18. Babnik has twice represented Slovenia at the Olympic Games - first at Tokyo 2020 when she was just 17, and then at Paris 2024.
19. Pia has represented Slovenia at the 2017 European Girls' Team Championship, and then in 2018 and 2019 at the European Ladies' Team Championship.
20. She also qualified for the Junior Solheim Cup in 2019, as well as the triumphant Continent of Europe team that won in the Junior Vagliano Trophy.
