Former child phenom Lucy Li earns LPGA Tour card for 2023 season

A familiar face to golf fans just earned her LPGA Tour card. Lucy Li, who famously played in the U.S. Women’s Open at age 11 (a record that still stands), has officially earned her LPGA Tour card for the 2023 season via the Epson Tour top 10.

Li, 19, will have full-time status next season. She earned her card by accumulating enough points during her season on the Epson Tour (formerly the Symetra Tour), which is the official qualifying tour of the LPGA . Although there’s still two months left in the season, she’s already earned enough to secure a top-10 spot — and LPGA promotion — regardless.

“It’s definitely been a big goal of mine for a long time,” Li said in a release. “To finally be able to be out there and compete with the best in the world is very exciting.”

Li won the Carolina Golf Classic in June and the Twin Bridges Championship in July. She’s spent her time since trying to qualify for LPGA events and will be in this week’s CP Women’s Open.

After her U.S. Women’s Open start in 2014 (she missed the cut at Pinehurst), Li competed on two Junior Ryder Cup teams and two Junior Solheim Cup teams. She was also on the 2018 Curtis Cup team. Li was back in the news in 2019 when her amateur status was in question after she appeared in an Apple advertisement in January 2019. She received a one-time warning from the USGA and turned pro later that year.

Last year, in her first USGA event as a professional, she tied for 16th at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open.