Daniela Darquea never aimed to make it big on the LPGA Tour. More so, the 28-year-old never even thought of becoming a professional golfer. However, through various stages of life, Darquea decided that golf was her calling and after a few initial years of struggles, Darquea’s journey started.

Daniela Darquea’s story starts in her hometown Quito, Ecuador, on July 26, 1995, at the nearest club, which was frequented by her family. The club had a swimming pool and a tennis court. Seeing different sports from a young age, one day Darquea asked her mother to let her try golf. Thus, at the age of five, her journey in golf started.

Three years after learning golf, the 28-year-old was becoming a fixture at national golf tournaments in Ecuador at the age of 7. Moreover, by the age of 10, Darquea traveling and now playing events in and around South America. While she continued her studies at Colegio Americano de Quito, Darquea used to travel to the USA for various tournaments.

There, former LPGA Tour professional, Patti Rizzo noticed the then-14-year-old Darquea’s talents. Rizzo found the Ecuadorian pro had similar strengths as Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa, who had been Darquea’s idol when she first started learning golf. Hence, she then traversed to Miami to continue playing golf in America.

Daniela Darquea’s career at the University of Miami

After graduating from Colegio Americano de Quito, Daniela Darquea was admitted to the University of Miami in 2013. In her freshman year, Darquea was already trending in her collegiate career, as she finished in the top 10 five times and was named the first All-American after Julie Brand in 1994.

Darquea’s career was on the rise. In the next three years at the University of Miami, Darquea won three individual events and had seventeen top-10 finishes. The Ecuadorian pro captured the ACC All-Conference Honors, three times in her three years at the University of Miami at the Briar Creek Invitational, Hurricane Invitational, and the Suntrust Gator Women’s Invitational in 2014.

However, Darquea did not graduate from the university in the years she was supposed to. What transpired that delayed her graduation? In 2016, Darquea was still a senior at the University of Miami but entered the third stage of LPGA Tour qualifying school in between. She later graduated in 2018 without attending the ceremony in Exercise Psychology.

After a year of hard work, Darquea finished T29 at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament and earned partial status to play on the LPGA Tour and full exemption to be on Epson Tour. On the developmental Tour, Darquea made history as she won her first and lone professional title to date.

Daniela Darquea’s lone victory on the Epson Tour

It was a sunny day at the Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon and Darquea had some competition against Benyapa Niphatsophon and Anne-Catherine Tanguay. However, Darquea did not let anything stop her, as she drained a birdie on the 18th hole and won the IOA Championship in 2017.

Her winning score was 12-under 204, which was the lowest winning finish at the Morongo Golf Club in the last three years. But that was not the historic part. While the victory marked Darquea’s first professional win, it was also the first time that a golfer from Ecuador had won on the Epson Tour.

Expressing her thoughts after the win and how it will impact the youth in Ecuador, Darquea told the LPGA Tour, “It’s such a special feeling knowing that kids in Ecuador can look up to someone and say ‘I can play golf and be successful’.” The Ecuadorian pro has been trying to improve her game, break through the missed cut curse, and emerge triumphant for the first time on the LPGA Tour.