Ladies of the Links Featured Players: Ana Belac
Nov 2nd 2020
Ana Belac is a 23-year-old rookie on the Symetra Tour. She grew up in Portoroz, Slovenia and learned to play on poorly maintained courses with golf balls that were often badly worn and cracked, but that didn’t stop her from winning her first tournament at the young age of seven. Golf wasn’t Belac’s first love, however. Truth be told, her first love was skiing, followed by tennis and track.
While continuing to play a variety of sports, Belac began focusing more on golf during her early to mid-teen years. In 2014, Belac represented Slovenia at the Youth Olympic Games. By 2015, Belac had eyes watching her, most notably Duke University golf coach Dan Brooks. After her first visit to Duke a year later, it didn’t take Ana long to decide to become a member of the Blue Devils.
Belac was a two-time All-ACC selection at Duke as a sophomore and junior, leading the team to the NCAA Division Championship in 2019. In addition, Belac was a member of the winning International Team at the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup and co-medalist the 2019 East Lake Cup.
Looking forward to helping Duke defend their title, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, altering everyone’s plans. She recalls heading to the Valspar Augusta Invitational when the news hit about the NBA shutting down. Just a few hours later the ACC suspended all athletics, as well as the NCAA.
Belac began another hobby, weightlifting, which both helps her ease stress and add strength and distance off the tee. Clearly an athlete in every sense of the word, she doesn’t want to be the “typical golfer”. She was named 2020 Women’s Golf Coaches Association First Team All-American and immediately after graduation she turned professional.
Because of her competitive nature, Ana didn’t feel nervous teeing it up professionally for the first time this summer. It didn’t take long for her to reach the winner’s circle, posting a wire-to-wire finish at the 2020 inaugural Carolina Golf Classic. This win placed her second on the money list this year and automatically qualified her for an LPGA Tour card for 2021.
