Lucy Li facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lucy Li
Li at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics
Personal information
Born	(2002-10-01) October 1, 2002 (age 22) Stanford, California
Nationality	United States
Residence	Sacramento, California
Career
Turned professional	2019
Current tour(s)	LPGA Tour
Former tour(s)	Epson Tour
Professional wins	2
Number of wins by tour
Futures Tour	2
Best results in LPGA Major Championships
Kraft Nabisco C'ship	T54: 2023
LPGA Championship	79th: 2023
U.S. Women's Open	T16: 2021
Women's British Open	CUT: 2024
The Evian Championship	CUT: 2023, 2024

Lucy Li (born October 1, 2002) is an amazing American professional golfer. She holds some incredible records for being super young when she qualified for big golf tournaments. For example, she was the youngest person ever to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur and the U.S. Women's Open when she was just 11 years old in 2014. She also won an age group at the first-ever Masters Drive, Chip, and Putt Championship.

About Lucy Li

Lucy Li was born in Stanford, California. Her parents, Warren and Amy, were born in China and moved to the United States from Australia in 1998. Lucy was born in 2002. She was homeschooled, which means she learned at home. She even took online courses from the University of Pennsylvania!

When she was very young, Lucy was active in other sports like diving and gymnastics. She started playing golf around age 4 or 5. Some stories say she watched her older brother, Luke, play golf and wanted to try it too. When she was 7, her parents arranged for her to train with a famous golf coach, Jim McLean.

Amazing Amateur Career

Lucy Li set many records as an amateur golfer, which means she played for fun and experience, not for money.

Youngest Qualifier Records

Lucy became the youngest person to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links match play. She was only 10 years, 8 months, and 16 days old! She also became the youngest to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur, starting the tournament at 10 years, 10 months, and 4 days old.

In 2014, Lucy made history again. She became the youngest person (at age 11) to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open. This is one of the biggest golf tournaments for women! She even won her qualifying event by seven strokes. Even though she missed the cut at the U.S. Women's Open that year, it was a huge achievement for someone so young.

Winning Junior Events

Lucy continued to shine in junior golf.

• In August 2016, she won the Junior PGA Championship.
• The next month, she was part of the winning team for the 2016 Junior Ryder Cup.
• In 2017, she was the only amateur to make the cut at the 2017 ANA Inspiration, a major LPGA tournament.
• She also helped the United States win the Junior Solheim Cup in 2017 and 2019.
• In 2018, Lucy was part of the U.S. team that won the 2018 Curtis Cup by a huge margin.
• At the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, Lucy teamed up with Akshay Bhatia to win a silver medal in the mixed team event.

A Small Hiccup

In 2019, Lucy was in an Apple Watch advertisement. This caused a small issue because amateur golfers are not supposed to promote products. The USGA (United States Golf Association) gave her a warning, but she was allowed to keep her amateur status.

Becoming a Professional Golfer

Lucy Li decided to become a professional golfer in late 2019 when she was 17 years old. This meant she could now play for prize money!

First Professional Wins

Lucy's first big professional win on the Epson Tour (a tour for rising golf stars) happened on June 12, 2022. She won the Carolina Golf Classic in a playoff! Just one month later, she won her second tournament, the Twin Bridges Championship.

Playing on the LPGA Tour

After her wins on the Epson Tour, Lucy got a chance to play in some LPGA Tour events, which is the highest level of women's professional golf.

• In 2021, she finished tied for 16th place at the U.S. Women's Open, which was her best finish in a major LPGA event so far.
• In 2022, she had a great run, finishing in the top-10 at the CP Women's Open and then finishing fourth at the Dana Open.
• In 2024, Lucy had her best LPGA result yet! She finished second in a playoff at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. In that final round, she made three eagles, which is very rare in golf!

Amateur Wins

• 2016 Junior PGA Championship
• 2017 The PING Invitational, Rolex Tournament of Champions

Professional Wins (2)

Epson Tour Wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up	Winner's share ($)
1	Jun 12, 2022	Carolina Golf Classic	66-68-62-69=265	−19	Playoff	Alexa Pano	30,000
2	Jul 10, 2022	Twin Bridges Championship	66-68-69=203	−10	4 strokes	Linnea Ström	30,000

Results in LPGA Majors

Results not in chronological order.

     Did not play CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied

U.S. National Team Appearances

Amateur

• Junior Ryder Cup: 2016 (winners), 2018 (winners)
• Junior Solheim Cup: 2017 (winners), 2019 (winners)
• Curtis Cup: 2018 (winners)
• Summer Youth Olympics Mixed team event: 2018