{"id":688628,"date":"2026-06-06T21:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/688628\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T21:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:19:13","slug":"after-falling-back-in-love-with-game-kaleiya-romero-will-join-top-ranked-sister-for-uswo-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/688628\/","title":{"rendered":"After falling back in love with game, Kaleiya Romero will join top-ranked sister for USWO weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013 As Kaleiya Romero ascended the iconic steps from Riviera Country Club\u2019s 18th green to scoring, waiting at the top was her former boss, Oregon head women\u2019s golf coach Derek Radley, who gave his favorite graduate assistant a big, congratulatory hug.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of that kid,\u201d Radley said of Romero, who is the 23-year-old sister of Kiara Romero, the Ducks\u2019 star junior and the world\u2019s top-ranked amateur.<\/p>\n

Both Romero sisters will make the cut at this 81st U.S. Women\u2019s Open. Kiara, with Radley on the bag, fired a 1-under 70 to move to 1 over while Kaleiya and her caddie, brother Kyreece, a rising senior on Oregon\u2019s men\u2019s team, hung on for a second-round 74 to finish 36 holes at 3 over, which is projected to be a shot clear of the cut line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been a dream of ours to play professional golf together,\u201d Kaleiya said, \u201cbut to be in the same U.S. Women\u2019s Open so soon, and now both of us making the cut, it\u2019s so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two summers ago, Kaleiya thought that dream was over. She\u2019d just wrapped up her college career at Pepperdine when she missed the cut at first stage of LPGA Q-School by a shot. The disappointment exacerbated her frustration with the game, and she decided she didn\u2019t love it enough to continue to chase it professionally.<\/p>\n

With Kiara\u2019s help, Kaleiya convinced Radley to bring her on as a graduate assistant at Oregon, where she\u2019d work toward a Master\u2019s degree in applied behavior. When Radley\u2019s main assistant, Krissy Carman, became pregnant, Kaleiya was forced into more action, traveling with the Ducks all spring, which culminated in a semifinal appearance at last year\u2019s NCAA Championship.<\/p>\n

When Kaleiya steps on a drive, she can outhit her little sister, who is prodigiously long, by 10 yards. But by being around Kiara, Radley and the rest of the team, Kaleiya learned not just how to better manage her way around golf courses but her emotions as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned I just need to relax and have fun,\u201d Kaleiya said. \u201cGolf had been super stressful for me, and I didn\u2019t really enjoy it as much as I used to. I didn\u2019t think going to Oregon for a year would do it for me, but it changed a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaleiya decided to reenter Q-School last fall, and she advanced to final qualifying, earning full Epson Tour status. She graduated shortly after, and that\u2019s when she pulled Radley aside and told him, \u201cCoach D, thank you so much. You and the University of Oregon have helped me find my love for golf again.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Michelle Wie West, the 2014 champ, carded 75-74 in her two rounds at Riviera putting her behind the projected cut. Here are some other notable names not making it to the weekend.<\/p>\n

In seven starts this season on the LPGA\u2019s feeder circuit, Romero owns five top-15s. She opened her career with three straight finishes of T-11 or better. She had so much fun, too, that with all three events in Florida, she took multiple trips to Walt Disney World. She then returned to Kiara\u2019s bag for the Augusta National Women\u2019s Amateur, held during the tour\u2019s month-long break.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of golf,\u201d Kaleiya said. \u201cFour straight weeks on the road, we didn\u2019t even do that in college, but getting to play at a high level again and seeing that I can compete with them, it\u2019s been a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Radley: \u201cShe started having success out there, and she\u2019s like, \u2018I belong.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Romeros are renting an Airbnb in Santa Monica this week, right on the beach. Each night, Radley and his \u201ccaddie prot\u00e9g\u00e9\u201d Kyreece do their pin sheets together. The understudy has also been learning how to step off yardages. On Friday, with Kaleiya fighting to make the weekend and facing a 10-footer for par at the par-5 17th, Kyreece stepped in for a veto. He\u2019d just seen his sister three-putt for bogey from 6 feet at the par-4 15th, and he noticed her line was a little low.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me,\u201d he told her. Kaleiya adjusted and sank it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the board that said plus-4, but you never know, so I was like, let\u2019s not make any more mistakes,\u201d Kaleiya said. \u201cI felt like I had to make that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then pounded a drive 280 yards down the last fairway, hit her approach to 20 feet and calmly two-putted. Kiara, meanwhile, was doing a speaking engagement in the chalet that towers above the 18th green. The youngest Romero sibling has now earned 15 of 20 points in the LPGA\u2019s Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) program, which is modeled similarly to PGA Tour University Accelerated. Kiara will get three more in the coming weeks for playing on the U.S. Curtis Cup and Arnold Palmer Cup squads. A top-25 finish this Sunday would come with another point, while she also has multiple majors and likely a couple regular LPGA starts remaining this summer.<\/p>\n

Kaleiya could find her way to the LPGA at year\u2019s end, too, as she currently sits 15th in Epson points. She won\u2019t get any credit for what she does this week, not that it takes anything away from this maiden achievement.<\/p>\n

\u201cKiara has made the cut before,\u201d Kaleiya said, \u201cbut for me, probably my biggest accomplishment in golf.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Romeros shared a practice round earlier this week, and as they walked down the first fairway, Kiara turned to everyone and said, \u201cThis just feels right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019ll spend the weekend together, living out their dreams.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Golf Channel brings you the latest news from the U.S. Women\u2019s Open at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 As Kaleiya Romero ascended the iconic steps from Riviera Country Club\u2019s 18th green to scoring,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-688628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}