Sophia Popov (born 2 October 1992) is a German professional golfer who competes on the LPGA Tour.
Personal life Popov holds dual United States-German citizenship, having been born in the United States, and moved to Germany with her family when she was four years old. Her paternal grandparents are Bulgarian. On 11 June 2023, she and husband Max Mehles announced the birth of their daughter.
Amateur career As an amateur, she played college golf at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She won the 2010 International European Ladies Amateur Championship and played on the Junior Solheim Cup and Espirito Santo Trophy teams.
Professional career In 2015, Popov was part of the German broadcast team for German television during the Solheim Cup.
Popov played on the Symetra Tour between 2016 and 2020, where she had a best of four runner-up finishes: 2016 Chico's Patty Berg Memorial, 2016 Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic, 2017 Tullymore Classic and 2020 Founders Tribute at Longbow. In 2016, she qualified for the U.S. Women's Open at CordeValle, where she finished last of those making the cut, and in 2018 she played in the Women's PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes, finishing tied for 57th place.
In February 2019, Popov came within a stroke of gaining a place on the LPGA Tour for the 2019 season via the qualifying school. In 2020, with the LPGA and Symetra tours being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, she won three tournaments on the Cactus Tour, a mini-tour based in Arizona. She followed that up with victory in the AIG Women's Open at Royal Troon, having qualified by means of a high finish at the Marathon Classic. Prior to the Women's Open, Popov was ranked 304th in the world.
Amateur wins 2008 European Ladies' Club Trophy (individual), German Girls Championship (Under-16) 2009 European Ladies' Club Trophy (individual) 2010 International European Ladies Amateur Championship, PAC 10-SEC Challenge 2011 PING/ASU Invitational, PAC-10 Championship 2012 Battle at Rancho Bernardo 2013 SDSU Farms Invitational
Source:
Professional wins (5) LPGA Tour wins (1) Legend Major championships (1) Other LPGA Tour (0) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner-up123 Aug 2020 AIG Women's Open−7 (70-72-67-68=277)2 strokes Thidapa Suwannapura Co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour.
Epson Tour wins (1) 2025 Carlisle Arizona Women's Golf Classic
Cactus Tour wins (3) 2020 Event 14, Event 16, Event 20
Major championships Wins (1) YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up2020 AIG Women's Open3 shot lead−7 (70-72-67-68=277)2 strokes Thidapa Suwannapura
Results timeline Results not in chronological order. Tournament 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026Chevron ChampionshipT60T44CUTT30U.S. Women's Open72T40CUTCUTT26CUTWomen's PGA ChampionshipCUTT57T23CUTCUTCUTCUTThe Evian ChampionshipNTT60CUTCUTCUTWomen's British Open 671CUTCUTCUTCUTCUT
CUT = missed the half-way cut NT = no tournament T = tied
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeChevron Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3U.S. Women's Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 3Women's PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 2The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1Women's British Open 1 0 0 1 1 1 7 2Totals 1 0 0 1 1 2 28 11 Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2016 U.S. Women's Open – 2021 Chevron) Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (once)
Team appearances Amateur European Girls' Team Championship (representing Germany): 2008. 2009 Junior Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2009 Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Germany): 2010, 2012 European Ladies' Team Championship (representing Germany): 2011, 2013, 2014 Vagliano Trophy (representing Continent of Europe): 2011 (winners), 2013 (winners)
Professional Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2021 (winners)
Solheim Cup record Year Totalmatches TotalW–L–H SinglesW–L–H FoursomesW–L–H FourballsW–L–H Pointswon Points%Career30–3–00–1–00–0–00–2–000.0202130–3–00–1–0 lost to M. Khang 3&20–0–00–2–0 lost w/ C. Ciganda 1 dnlost w/ C. Boutier 3&100.0
References
External links
USC Trojans – Sophia Popov