Natalie Yen shines at Junior Solheim Cup
It’s been quite a summer for Natalie Yen.
The high school senior from West Linn, Ore., who plays out of Arrowhead Golf Club in Molalla, had a phenomenal start to 2024, winning the Hilton Grand Vacations ANNIKA Invitational presented by Rolex in January. She shot 13-under-par 206, and was met on the 18th green by Annika Sorenstam herself to cap off the win.
Click here to watch Yen’s interview after winning the PING Junior Solheim Cup.
With her win, Yen earned an exemption to the LPGA Tour’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, which made it her second LPGA start. Last year Yen had won the Kathy Whitworth Invitational in 2023 and earned a spot in The Ascendant LPGA Benefiting Volunteers of America, which secured her being named a 2023 Rolex Junior All-American.
She then finished as the co runner-up of the 2024 AJGA Junior at The Mission Club before representing the West at Wyndham Cup this summer.
Yen made it to the round of 32 at the 2024 U.S. Girls’ Junior, which was held in July at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. Earlier this year she had also made it to the round of 32 (with partner Asia Young of Bend, Ore.) in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball. Yen and Young then later earned medalist honors in qualifying for the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.
Competing against women amateur players of all ages, Yen won the 2024 California Women’s Championship, held Aug 19-21 at Ojai (Calif.) Valley Golf Course, shooting rounds of 72-67-68.
Yen’s summer was then capped with being named as a captain’s pick for Team USA in the 2024 PING Junior Solheim Cup, which was played at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia, September 9-10.
Team USA Captain Beth Daniel selected Yen because of her strong summer of accomplishments.
Modeled after the Solheim Cup, the PING Junior Solheim Cup biennially features the 12 best female junior golfers (ages 12-18) from the United States against their counterparts from Europe. The team match play event includes foursomes, four-ball and singles matches played over two days and rotates between U.S. and European host sites coinciding with the Solheim Cup. This year’s event includes both teams watching the final days of the Solheim Cup matches at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, September 10 – 15, 2024.
In the Junior Solheim Cup, Yen won two matches and tied one, with Team USA winning the competition, 18.5 to 5.5.
Yen has verbally committed to attend Texas A&M University, to play for their women’s golf team beginning in the fall of 2025.
