Albane Valenzuela

Albane Valenzuela
Personal information
Born (1997-12-17) 17 December 1997 (age 27)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Height5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Sporting nationality Switzerland
ResidenceDallas, Texas, U.S.
Career
CollegeStanford University
Turned professional2019
Current tour(s)LPGA Tour
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipT4: 2023
Women's PGA C'shipT46: 2021
U.S. Women's Open24th: 2018
Women's British OpenT20: 2024
Evian ChampionshipT22: 2024

Albane Ines Marie Valenzuela (born 17 December 1997) is a Swiss professional golfer and a three-time Olympian. She was born in New York City[1] to a Mexican father and French mother. She became a Swiss citizen at age 14.[2][3]

Amateur career

Valenzuela took low amateur honors at the 2016 ANA Inspiration.[4] She also made the cut at the 2016 U.S. Women's Open.[3] She had two top-5 finishes on the Ladies European Tour in 2016 and a top-10 finish in the 2014 Lacoste Ladies French Open with a tournament low round of 64.

Valenzuela qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[5] She was the number one ranked golfer in Switzerland and reached number two in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Valenzuela also won the European Golf Association European Order of Merit in 2018.

Valenzuela reached the final of the 2017 U.S. Women's Amateur, losing to Sophia Schubert, 6 and 5.[6] In 2019, she again reached the finals, losing to Gabriela Ruffels, 1 up.[7] Valenzuela was also runner-up in the European Ladies Amateur Championship in 2017.

Valenzuela played college golf at Stanford University before turning professional in late 2019.[8] Valenzuela was named Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2019 and was a Ping/WGCA First Team All-American. She was a recipient of the WGCA's Edith Cummings Munson Award which is given to one of the top collegiate female golfers who excels in academics. She was also named to the Google Cloud CoSIDA first team Academic All-American. She graduated in 2020 with a degree in political science and was awarded Phi Beta Kappa.[9]

Professional career

Valenzuela turned professional after earning her LPGA Tour card by finishing T-6 at Q Series in November 2019.[8] She represented Switzerland at the 2016 Rio Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2024 Paris Olympics.

Amateur wins

  • 2013 Swiss National Match Play Championship (with Rachel Rossel), Bulgarian Amateur Open
  • 2014 Swiss International Championship
  • 2015 Spanish International Stroke Play, Doral Publix Junior Classic, Junior Orange Bowl International Golf Championship
  • 2017 NCAA Albuquerque Regional
  • 2018 East Lake Cup
  • 2019 Pac-12 Championship

Sources:[10]

Results in LPGA majors

Results not in chronological order.

! Tournament 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Chevron Championship T65 59 T66 CUT T53 T4 CUT
U.S. Women's Open T67 24 CUT T59 T29
Women's PGA Championship CUT T46 CUT T61 CUT
The Evian Championship CUT CUT CUT CUT T37 NT CUT T27 T42 T22
Women's British Open T29 T54 CUT T20
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Solheim Cup record

Year Total
matches		 Total
W–L–H		 Singles
W–L–H		 Foursomes
W–L–H		 Fourballs
W–L–H		 Points
won		 Points
%
Career 2 0–1–1 0–0–1 0–1–0 0–0–0 0.5 25.0
2024 2 0–1–1 0–0–1 tied w/ L. Vu 0–1–0 lost w/ C. Boutier 3&2 0–0–0 0.5 25.0

References

  1. ^ Geske, Joey (8 August 2019). "Meet the 2019 Quarterfinalists". USGA.
  2. ^ Van Smith, Bill (29 December 2015). "Albane Valenzuela hopes third time's a charm at Jr. Orange Bowl golf tournament". Miami Herald. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b Nichols, Beth Ann (11 July 2016). "Swiss amateur Albane Valenzuela prepares to realize Olympic dream". Golfweek. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  4. ^ Herrington, Ryan (8 July 2016). "With all the talk of pros playing (or not) in the Olympics, two amateurs are about to qualify for Rio". Golf Digest. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Albane Valenzuela qualifiée pour Rio" (in French). Léman Bleu Télévision. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  6. ^ Nichols, Beth Ann (14 August 2017). "U.S. Women's Amateur title picture perfect moment for Sophia Schubert". Golfweek.
  7. ^ "Ruffels 1st Aussie to win U.S. Women's Amateur". ESPN. Associated Press. 11 August 2019.
  8. ^ a b Nichols, Beth Ann (13 November 2019). "Albane Valenzuela opts to leave Stanford golf to live out LPGA dream". Golfweek.
  9. ^ "Valenzuela qualifies for Rio". Stanford Athletics. 12 July 2016.
  10. ^ "Albane Valenzuela". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 31 May 2019.