14 Things You Didn't Know About Pia Babnik

Learn more about Slovenian teenage wonderkid Pia Babnik with these facts

14 Things You Didn't Know About Pia Babnik

Pia Babnik is one of the most promising young golfers in the world at the moment, and she has an exciting career ahead of her after being born as recently as 2004.

The Slovenian is representing her nation at the Tokyo Olympics, but what more do you need to know about the teenager destined for greatness in the women's game? We take a look below.

14 Things You Didn't Know About Pia Babnik

1. Pia Babnik was born 2 January 2004, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

2. Babink first started playing golf at age three, after her dad introduced her to the game and initially taught her how to play.

She joined her first junior golf competition at four-years-old, and finished third in a national championship for under-8s.

She said she hit her first ever birdie in that tournament, and continued to win all age group national titles in her home country.

3. Aside from golf, Babnik also enjoys playing badminton with her family, and she also competed in the sport while at school.

4. 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.

5. 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."

6. 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.

7. 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.

She also picked up a bronze medal at the 2018 Mediterranean Games alongside Vida Obersnel and Ana Belac in the women's team event.

8. 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.

9.Babnik played her first Ladies European Tour tournament at the 2019 Czech Ladies Open, and once again made the cut.

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.

10. The youngster 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 eleventh to earn her card for the 2020 Ladies European Tour, with a top-20 place necessary.

Babnik finished the season 25th on the Order of Merit in her rookie year.

11. Babnik won her first professional event in June 2021 at the Jabra Ladies Open, after a playoff with Annabel Dimmock.

12. Pia has represented Slovenia at the 2017 European Girls' Team Championship, and then in 2018 and 2019 at the European Ladies' Team Championship.

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.

13. Babnik is Slovenia's sole women's player representing the country at the Tokyo Olympics, and she is just 17-years-old.

Her appearance fulfils a dream of hers that she spoke about last year, though she had her sights more realistically set on Paris in 2024, rather than the immediate Olympic Games.

14. When countries were coming out of lockdown in 2020, Babnik played her brothers in tournaments across Slovakia, Czech Republic and Germany.

She recorded seven consecutive victories against them.