Which college did Netflix star Alexa Pano go to?

Alexa Pano is definitely a different kind of golfer. Suffice it to say that less than 18 months after turning professional, she already achieved her first victory on the LPGA Tour. But that's not the only thing the Netflix star excels at.

Alexa Pano's short yet outstanding amateur career did not include a stint in college golf. The rising star of women's golf chose to turn pro directly, without attending college.

Alexa Pano turned pro in April 2022, just after being the youngest player in the inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur.

Back then, Pano explained that her decision not to attend college was due to a rule adopted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2019. Under that rule, colleges can only approach junior athletes for recruitment when they are in their senior year of high school.

At the time, Pano shared with Golf Digest the arguments for making her decision to directly follow the professional path, and how the aforementioned NCAA rule influenced this. This was part of what she said:

"Before they changed the rules, when I was 12-, 13- and 14-years-old, I did do college visits ... If the rules hadn't changed, I think I might have ended up committing to college pretty early, around 14- or 15-year-old. But it turned out that the rule change gave me more time to think about my options, and that was a really good thing for me."

Pano also stated that her ultimate interest in not turning pro was to play the Augusta National Women's Amateur. Once that was done, she felt it was time to take the leap at the age of 17.

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Alexa Pano's career

Her upbringing has been mostly under the care of her father, who introduced her to golf at the age of five. Quickly, the young Alexa Pano began to show the gifts that have made her one of the great promises of world golf.

Her development was so precocious that her father decided to combine classroom and virtual education so that the girl would have enough time to dedicate to golf. At the age of six, Alexa began participating in the U.S. Kids Golf World Championships. She did so for five consecutive seasons.

It was precisely in the 2012 edition of that tournament that Alexa participated in the Netflix documentary "The Short Game," which followed her and other players throughout the tournament.

Alexa Pano became the youngest player to play on the LPGA Tour of Japan (11), and at 13, she made her debut at the LPGA Tour level. In 2019, she was the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open that season.

After turning pro, Alexa Pano earned a spot on the Epson Tour and quickly transitioned to the LPGA Tour through Q-School. This Sunday (August 20), she won her first tournament at this level, the ISPS Handa World Invitational. Interestingly, Pano turned 19 on the same date.