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Before they turned pro: Yealimi Noh
Yealimi Noh (photo from Noh's Instagram)
Yealimi Noh (photo from Noh's Instagram)

Yealimi Noh’s journey to the top of the leaderboard at the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open is no overnight success. Tied for the lead as the championship unfolds at Erin Hills, Noh is reminding the golf world of the promise she showed long before turning pro. Her name may be new to some casual fans tuning in this week, but to those who followed her dominant amateur career, this moment feels like destiny. Here's a look back at the incredible junior and amateur run that laid the foundation for her professional rise.

Before earning a spot on the 2021 Solheim Cup team and hoisting her first LPGA Tour trophy at the 2025 Founders Cup, Yealimi Noh was already known as one of the most decorated junior golfers of her generation, putting together a sensational run in 2018 that included three prestigious amateur wins in consecutive weeks.

The Concord, California native was a standout from a young age, qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Amateur at 15 and finishing in the Final 64. But it was her breakout summer in 2018 that firmly established her reputation. That year, Noh won the Girls Junior PGA Championship, the U.S. Girls’ Junior, and the Canadian Women’s Amateur, becoming the first player ever to sweep all three in the same year. She also added a win at the California Junior Championship earlier that month, winning four high-level amateur events in five weeks.


She capped off her 2018 season by reaching the Final 32 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur and making two LPGA Tour starts, making the cut at the Canadian Women’s Open and the HanaBank Championship. Her poise against seasoned pros as a teenager previewed the transition that would soon follow.



In a move that reflected her confidence, Noh skipped college golf entirely and turned professional in January 2019. She made headlines later that summer when she Monday qualified for the Cambia Portland Classic and finished second, a performance that propelled her to the Q-Series, where she finished third to earn full LPGA status for the 2020 season.

Noh made the most of her rookie campaign, recording 15 made cuts in 16 starts and a runner-up finish at the Volunteers of America Classic, en route to finishing 25th on the money list in her debut season.

In 2021, she was selected to represent Team USA at the Solheim Cup after recording top-three finishes at both the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational and the Amundi Evian Championship. She followed that up with multiple top-10s in 2022 and 2023 and entered 2024 looking to re-establish herself inside the tour’s top tier.

That breakout finally came in 2025, when Noh captured her first LPGA Tour victory at the Founders Cup, firing rounds of 68-64-63-68 to win by four shots over former World No. 1 Jin-young Ko. 

LPGA Tour Victories (1)
2025 Founders Cup

Solheim Cup Appearances
2021 (Team USA)

Amateur Wins
2014 California Junior Championship

2015 Junior All-Star Invitational

2017 AJGA Girls Championship

2017 Joanne Winter Arizona Silver Belle Championship

2017 NCGA Girls Junior Championship

2018 Hana Financial Group Se Ri Pak Junior Championship

2018 California Junior Championship

2018 Girls Junior PGA Championship

2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship

2018 Canadian Women’s Amateur

Major Amateur Finishes
2018 Canadian Women’s Amateur – 1st

2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur – Final 32

2018 LPGA Tour – Canadian Women’s Open – T46

2018 LPGA Tour – HanaBank Championship – T59

2017 Joanne Winter Arizona Silver Belle – 1st

2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur – Final 64

Amateur Team Appearances
Junior Solheim Cup (Team USA) – 2017

Junior Ryder Cup (Team USA) – 2018


ABOUT THE U.S. Women's Open

The U.S. Women's Open has the biggest payout in women's golf. It is one of 15 annual championships conducted by the USGA. The event is open to any professional or amateur female golfer. There is a handicap limit for amateurs; for the 2024 event it was 4.4; please see USGA website for the current limit and entry requirements.

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