When Gianna Clemente of Estero, Florida, received a spot in three LPGA Tour qualifiers, she made a goal to qualify for at least one and play in her first LPGA Tour event. Little did she know, less than a month later, she would surpass her goal and make LPGA Tour history.
Three events later, with a 7-under-par 65, Clemente secured a spot to play in the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. She not only achieved her goal of playing in one LPGA event but surpassed it to become the youngest player to qualify for three straight. She is only 14.
It’s kind of crazy to play alongside the people that you’ve watched on TV and to hit balls on the driving range next to them. It is really crazy and surreal. It was definitely something that was a little unexpected but it was so much fun.
The impressive feat has only been accomplished by one other player, Hee-Won Han, in 2001. Han was 23 years old at the time.
Clemente made her LPGA Tour debut at the CP Women's Open in Ottawa, Canada, and played a week later at the Dana Open presented by Marathon in Sylvania, Ohio, before finishing the incredible stretch at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G.
I want to turn professional at some point in the future and the whole experience showed me that I really do want to do this professionally one day. That was the biggest thing I took out of the experience, I can really see myself doing that in the future.
Alongside making LPGA history, Clemente has also made AJGA history. In 2021, she became the youngest champion in The PING Invitational history at 13 years old. She went back-to-back this season and successfully defend her title to join previous champions, Rose Zhang and Jordan Spieth, as the only players to win The PING Invitational twice.
The three-time Rolex Junior All-American placed runner-up at the 2022 Rolex Girls Junior Championship and third at the 2022 K.J. Choi Foundation Texas Junior Championship presented by Mediheal. Clemente also had the opportunity to play on the East Team at the 2022 Wyndham Cup, which she said was one of her biggest goals coming into this year.
Clemente finished the year being named a first-team Rolex Junior All-American for the second year, the third Rolex Junior All-American honor of her career and claimed a top-10 finish at the Rolex Tournament of Champions.
It was a really fun year, some of the best memories I’ve ever made were through AJGA events this year.