Alexa Pano

She has been a rising American star in junior, amateur, and now professional golf. Pano has made headlines on the golf course from a young age. Her father, Rick, introduced her to golf at age 5.
She is a three-time Drive, Chip & Putt National Finalist and the only two-time champion (2016, 2017) in the event's five-year history. She is also a three-time Junior World Champion (2013, 2014, 2015) in San Diego and a five-time U.S. Kids Golf World Champion in Pinehurst, N.C. Her 2012 Performance in Pinehurst was documented in the Justin Timberlake-produced documentary "The Short Game."
She became the youngest-ever competitor on the LPGA of Japan Tour at the age of 11 in 2016 and made her LPGA Tour debut last summer in the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. She was a three-time Drive, Chip & Putt national finalist at Augusta National Golf Club and won her age group in 2016 and 2017.
In 2018, she was a member of the victorious United States team in the Junior Ryder Cup in France and finished 4th in the Girls Junior PGA Championship. She finished runner-up at the 2018 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship after losing the final match to Yealimi Noh, 4 & 3.
So far in 2019, she has won the Jones-Doherty Amateur and the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship, finished runner-up in the South Atlantic Amateur, and held a share of the 54-hole lead in a Symetra Tour event before finishing 8th in her effort to become the youngest winner in the history of the Symetra Tour by two years. Pano also competed in the inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur in Augusta, Ga., the youngest player in the field, but missed the cut. She also missed the cut in 2021 before finishing T-12th in 2022.
She was a semi-finalist with her partner, Amari Avery, at the 2019 U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball. The duo lost to eventual champions Erica Shepherd and Megan Furtney. She played for the winning team in the 2019 Junior Solheim Cup.
Pano played in amateur events, but after finishing T-12th at the 2022 Augusta National Women's Amateur, she announced that at 17, she would turn pro. Since she was 13, she made college visits and wanted to study communications, hoping to be an NFL broadcaster after her golf career. But, in April 2022, she turned pro and attempted to join the Epson Tour at age 17. She had status on the Epson Tour after finishing T-10th in the second round of the 2021 Q Series. She was denied a petition to play in the Q Series finals because she was underage, but her status on the Epson Tour remained unaffected. She finished 13th on the Epson Tour money list with 16 cuts made in 18 starts and five top 10s, including two runner-up finishes at the Carolina Golf Classic and Garden City Charity Classic. Pano was also 3rd at the Circling Raven Championship. She was 13th on the money list for the year with earnings of $76,195. After the season, she finished T-21st at the LPGA Q Series to earn her LPGA card for 2023.
2023 Notes: Played in 21 LPGA events, making 12 cuts with one top-ten finish. She was 43rd on the CME Points list and 66th on the money list, earning $442,855. She struggled in her first eight events, only making two cuts. But at the ISPS Handa World Women's, she shot 66 in the final round and was tied with Esther Henseleit and Gabriella Cowley. On the third playoff hole made a birdie to beat Cowley. In her final nine events, her best finish was T-12th at the Portland Classic; she ended her year finishing T-36th at the CME Group Tour Championship. After that, her favorite NFL team, the New England Patriots, became the first NFL team to sponsor an LPGA golfer.
2024 Notes: Played in 28 LPGA events, making 18 cuts with two top-ten finishes. She was 62nd on the CME Points list and 68th on the money list, earning $557,421. Started the season with a 2nd place finish at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, two shots back of the winner, Lydia Ko. Was T-10th at the AIG Women's Open.
2025 Notes: Best finish T-18th at the Dow Championship with partner Dani Holmqvist. Best individual finish T-26th at the Mizuho Americas Open.