Laura Diaz’s love for golf started early, at the age of nine. Born Laura Philo, on April, 1975 in Nova Scotia, New York, Diaz credits her father as well as close friends Dottie Pepper, David Duval and personal hero Nancy Lopez as the people with the most influence on the success of her career.
During her amateur years Diaz played collegiate golf at Wake Forest and became the 1995 AAC champion and in 1997, the Female Athlete of the Year. She turned pro in 1997 and promptly made Rookie of the Year a year later on the Women Professional Golfers’ European Tour. Between 1997 and 1998, she won on the Futures tour three times and earned an exempt status for 1999 after qualifying at the LPGA qualifying finals, where she tied for 20th place.
Born | 27 Apr 1975 |
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Her first LPGA victory came in 2002 when she became the Rolex First-Time Winner at the Welch’s Circle K Championship. She followed this victory up with another one eight events later, at the LPGA Corning Classic. In the same year Diaz was also a member of the US Solheim Cup team.
Although Diaz did not win any major events in the following years, she did quite well financially, crossing the 2 million mark in career earnings in 2003 and the 3 million mark in 2005. She also made history in 2005 when she became the second player after Tammy Green to compete for the Solheim Cup while pregnant. She defeated Iben Tinning, who was also pregnant at that time. She gave birth to son Cooper a year later and in 2007 finished a tie for third at the Safeway International presented by Coca Cola and the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic, her best finish of the year. She crossed the 4 million career mark in the same year and posted a 1-1-1 record for the Solheim Cup team during her fourth appearance.
Presently Diaz holds two LPGA victories, the Welch’s Circle K championship and the LPGA Corning Classic, both won in 2002.