Two years ago, Kaleiya Romero wasn't sure she wanted to play professional golf at all. This month, she clinched her LPGA Tour card for the 2027 season in her very first year on the Epson Tour — and she'll be doing it alongside her younger sister, Kiara.

“It's just a big relief, honestly,” Romero said of hearing the news. “This whole year has been — I mean, I wasn't that stressed, but playing and trying to get your card can get stressful, especially when you don't actually know when someone can pass you. I've just played all of the tournaments because I haven't really known if I've got it yet. So finally hearing those words is a nice weight off my shoulders.”

Romero's path started at Pepperdine, where she played four years of collegiate golf, earned four All-West Coast Conference honors, and won the 2023 WCC Championship. But when her college career ended, the expected next step — turning pro — didn't feel obvious. She missed the cut at the first stage of LPGA Q-Series, and the disappointment took the shine off a game she'd played her whole life.

Instead of pushing forward, Romero pulled back. She took a job as a graduate assistant coach for the University of Oregon women's golf team, reuniting with her younger sister, Kiara, and brother, Kyreece, who were both playing there at the time. It wasn't the plan she'd pictured for herself, but it turned into exactly what she needed.

“Honestly, I'm super proud of myself and of everyone who's supported me this whole year,” she said of the decision to eventually step away from coaching and try again. “I took a year off, so my sponsors and my agents didn't really have much to go off of when I came to them asking for help, so the fact that they took that chance on me means a lot.”

That year in Eugene reshaped how Romero saw her own game. Coaching gave her distance from the frustration that had pushed her away from competing, and being back around her siblings gave her something to build toward together rather than alone. When she finally decided to give professional golf another shot, she returned to LPGA Q-Series, advanced to final stage, and earned full status on the Epson Tour for 2026.

“I think I needed a year on Epson to develop my game and get used to playing all those tournaments again,” Romero said. “When I missed it at final stage the year before, I wasn't super bummed out — I think that's what prepared me and helped me feel like, next year, I'm ready to go out on the LPGA and see what I can do.”

The season that followed exceeded whatever timeline she'd quietly set for herself. Romero has made nine top-10 finishes and won once in her rookie year on the Epson Tour, a pace that clinched her LPGA card with one tournament still left to play.

“I didn't expect it,” Kaleiya said. “I thought maybe it would take a couple of years, since you never know what will happen out here, but with how I've played, I'm just super happy and glad I made the decision to come back and try this again.”

Her win came at the Island Resort Championship in Michigan, one week after she'd lost in a playoff at the Great Lakes Championship to fellow Epson Tour rookie, Lauren Olivares, a stretch she says taught her more than the win itself did.

“Trying to get the win was probably more stressful for me in the moment than trying to get the card,” she said, “because during that specific week, everything is about trying to win that tournament. But the fact that I was able to get myself in contention again was all just preparation for next year — seeing how I handle nerves and being in contention is just a learning lesson for me going forward.”

Through it all, family has been the constant. Romero estimates she rarely spent a week on the road alone this season, with her mother, her boyfriend, or family friends rotating through to support her. “It gets lonely out there,” Romero said, “and having somebody there cheering me on and keeping it fun meant I was never by myself. I think that's what kept playing all these tournaments from feeling like a job.”

That family thread now leads somewhere neither sister could have scripted a few years ago. Kiara Romero, long ranked the world's No. 1 amateur and a three-time All-American at Oregon, gained her status on the LPGA Tour this year as well through the LPGA’s new Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP), and the two sisters will compete on the LPGA Tour together for the 2027 season — with their brother, Kyreece, on Kiara's bag.

“It'll basically be our first year on tour together,” Kaleiya said, “and it'll be kind of her rookie year too, since she's only played a couple of events. We couldn't ask for a better situation, really, for it to line up like this.”

Romero doesn't describe the sisters' relationship as anything but competitive, even now. “We always push each other to get better,” she said. “She was the world number one, and for that whole year I didn't play, I was just there as her caddie and coach, supporting her, cheering her on. But now that I'm playing again, it's fun to see everybody supporting both of us. We always try to beat each other, but I'm always going to support her. We had different journeys, but we ended up in the same spot, so it kind of shows that no matter what, anyone can get out here and do what they want to do.”

With one event left on the Epson Tour schedule, Romero isn't ready to coast. She's still chasing the top spot in the Race for the Card, and she's already thinking about what to sharpen, her putting, mostly, before she tees it up on a tougher LPGA schedule next year. But for a player who once walked away from the game altogether, the moment is already a full-circle one.

“I didn't think I was going to clinch my card this year,” she said. “But with how I've played, I'm just super happy and glad I made the decision to come back and try this again.”

The Long Way Back: Kaleiya Romero Clinches Her Card

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