6 Filipino American Golfers You Don’t know about But Should
Minority golfers have long been on the outside looking in on the PGA and LPGA Tour, and frankly, the sport itself in its entirety—it’s time for change. And while it still has a long way to go, how refreshing it is to see these FilAm golfers represent.
1. Dorothy Delasin
Dorothy Delasin is a Filipino-American from San Francisco, California. She paved the way for Filipino-Americans in the golf scene. She started playing golf at the age of 8, and went on to play at George Washington High School where she won the boys’ golf championship. You read that right! Since there wasn’t a girls’ team, she competed against the boys. Delasin won both the U.S. Girls’ Junior in 1996 and the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1999.
Delasin then went on to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour where she obtained four career LPGA titles. At the age of 19, Delasin became the youngest player to win an LPGA event in 25 years when she defeated Pat Hurst. In 2001, she won the Samsung World Championship. In 2002, she tied for third at the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic. That same year, she crossed the $1 million mark in earnings, making her the youngest player to do so at the age of 21 years old. In 2003, she won her fourth career title at the Mobile LPGA Tournament of Champions. In 2005, she crossed the $2 million mark in career earnings.
As a dual citizen of the Philippines and the United States, Delasin was able to expand her competition scope. In 2008, Delasin and Jennifer Rosales of Team Philippines won the 4th Women’s World Cup of Golf. Outside of golf, like most Filipinos, she enjoys dancing, singing karaoke and hanging out with friends.
2. John Michael Spaun Jr. @jjspaun
John Michael Spaun is a half Filipino-American professional golfer better known as "J.J.". In 2008, he graduated from San Dimas High School then went on to study social science and play golf for San Diego State University. In college, he was a two-time All-Mountain West Conference selection in 2010, 2011 and Conference Player of the Year in 2012. He was named a Third-team All-American in 2011 and Second-team All-American in 2012 highlighted by three-straight individual wins his senior year.
In 2012, Spaun turned pro. Spaun played his first three professional seasons on PGA Tour Canada, finishing 35th in 2013. In 2014, he went to PGA Tour Canada Q School, where he finished T8. Spaun had his first professional win at the 2015 Staal Foundation Open. In 2016, he won the News Sentinel Open. In 2022, he won the Valero Texas Open where he received his largest career paycheck, earning more than $1.5 million dollars. Outside of golf, Spaun plays the guitar, collects Jordans, and is a Disneyland season pass holder.
3. Demi Runas @demi.runas @ucdaviswgolf
At the age of 5, Demi Runas was introduced to golf by her dad. Throughout her time at Torrance High School, she played golf and soccer. In college, Runas stuck to golf and helped the University of California, Davis capture the Big West team championship every year she competed from 2010-2013. In 2013, she added an individual title of her own. During Runas’ time at Davis, the Aggies made the NCAA postseason all four years and advanced to the national finals during her sophomore and senior seasons.
In 2020, Runas was the first woman’s golfer to be inducted into the California Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame. She is still the current lead of her alma mater’s women’s golf program with the following accolades: program’s career leader in scoring average (73.91), top-10 finishes (31) and top-five finishes (18), while her senior season totals of 72.63 average, 19 rounds of par or better, 11 top-10 finishes, and eight top-five finishes remain school records.
Runas graduated from UC Davis in 2013 with a degree in Communication. Later that summer, she won her first professional title on the Cactus Tour, then became the first Aggie to earn her LPGA Tour card. Runas played in 45 events on the LPGA Tour and retired in 2017.
Runas has come full circle and is back at UC Davis as the women’s golf head coach. For those people who want to go through the college process, she encourages them not to be afraid to bother the coaches. They may not see you right away, but you may be discovered. Runas was persistent and sent emails to multiple coaches, and that’s how she was discovered by Anne Walker, who became her coach at UC Davis. If you don’t shoot your shot, you’ll never know!
4. Tisha Alyn @tishaalyn
Tisha Alyn was born in Illinois and started playing golf with her dad at the age of 3. At the age of 7, she entered her first competition where she fell in last place. That feeling of losing stuck with her, but she used it as fuel and motivation to win. From that point forward, she won multiple tournaments and became the number one junior golfer in Illinois.
In 2005, Tisha’s family made their way to California. Growing up, she didn’t see a lot of diversity in golf until she came to California. She played throughout high school and was the top recruit receiving a full ride scholarship to Cal State University Fullerton where she graduated with a Broadcast Journalism degree. The biggest draw for Tisha was the opportunity to play for Coach Pearl Sinn-Bonanni, one of the first Koreans in the LPGA. This was especially important because her goal was to go pro. At that time, she didn’t have a back up plan, and she certainly didn’t want to become a nurse – and of course, like most Filipinos, that’s what her family wanted for her.
Immediately after graduating, Tisha turned pro from 2015-2018. In her first year as a pro, she won two mini-tour events. Being a professional golfer was her identity, and she was chasing the LPGA tour card, which she unfortunately didn’t get. In 2018, she hit a fork in the road and had to make a difficult decision. During that time, she suffered some injuries and was going through personal issues including discovering her sexuality. At 23 years old, Tisha came out to her family and the world. Culturally it was difficult to come out, and that really slowed things down in her golf career. She said, “I was very real with myself. I knew that I was a good golfer but I no longer loved the grind, and I no longer had the drive to do what it takes to become number one.”
In 2015, Tisha then started to engage in social media, and over time she saw the value it was bringing. Rather than sit on the sidelines, she jumped on the bandwagon. She started documenting her journey: wins, fails, and her experience in the mini tour circuit. Through social media, she was presented opportunities that were helping fund her golf career, which she needed for tournaments and gear. Since she didn’t have the backing and resources like other golfers, she had to bet on herself. She had to fund everything to make ends meet. Social media was a means for her to do just that! She switched directions and made the transition to a golf media personality and content creator because she saw that she could make a bigger impact in golf through social media. She shared that, “I am able to grow the game in an unconventional way. I get to show my love for golf in a different way”. She still joins tournaments and attends events because “I love the game more now because I play for fun and I truly enjoy it.”
Tisha is digitally known for her love of golf and vibrant personality. You’ve probably seen videos of her doing golf instruction, golf trick shots or dancing on the golf course. Basically, she’s all about anything having to do with golf entertainment! You may have also seen her hosting or interviewing other major movers in the golf industry.
According to Tisha, the greatest gift that golf has brought her is the relationships. “Business is done on the golf course. You learn a lot about people playing with them for 4-5 hours, and that’s where a lot of deals are made and handshakes happen. A lot of the opportunities she’s received have come from her relationships formed from golf. Abrea has worked with the best in the business including partnerships with Puma, Cobra, AT&T, TopGolf, and Fitbit just to name a few. She presides over a social media following of over 379K followers on Instagram alone! She realizes that she is different, and she is very proud to be one of the very few Filipinos to be in the game. She looks forward to seeing more Filipinos get into golf. She’s always creating new content. Follow along her journey on Instagram @tishaalyn.
5. Isaiah Salinda @isaiahsalinda
Isaiah Salinda is a Bay Area native, born and raised in South San Francisco. He graduated from Junipero Serra High School and was the first student-athlete in the school’s history to be named varsity team MVP as a freshman. He attended Stanford University from 2015-2019, where he played golf and majored in Management Science and Engineering. In 2019, Salinda helped lead Stanford to the NCAA title, while finishing sixth individually. He also won the 2018 Pacific Coast Amateur at The Olympic Club.
In 2020, Salinda turned pro. He is a member of the Korn Ferry Tour after graduating from PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He also played on PGA Tour Canada in 2020. After qualifying at Pronghorn Resort in Bend, Oregon, Salinda made his first U.S. Open debut in 2022. If you ever see Salinda play, make sure to pay attention to the most important part of his wardrobe: his socks. Outside of golf, he enjoys basketball, swimming, watching football and reading.
6. Enrico Diaz @rico.swingz
Enrico Diaz is a 17 year old Filipino-American from San Francisco, California. Through the influence of his father, he started playing golf at the age of 5. In elementary school, his parents were introduced to First Tee, a non-profit organization focused on youth development that teaches life skills and leadership through golf. Since then, he’s been a student of the game and highly involved with First Tee. First Tee “has taught me to play my strengths and also how to take risks to improve my weaknesses. They’ve also taught me to have fun and a positive mindset, whether I am having a bad round or going through a rough patch in life, First Tee has been a safe place for me”. Growing up with First Tee, “I was fortunate to play with a lot of people that look like me as well as others from different cultures”.
Diaz has been playing year-round golf up until now as a senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral where he has been part of the varsity team all four years. He has dedicated his time and energy to the sport, and has had the opportunity to play in tournaments like the Junior Tour of Northern California and Junior Golf Association (JTNC). Some of Diaz’s golf achievements include shooting par for the first time ever in a JTNC tournament placing 4th at Poppy Ridge.
Diaz’s favorite part about playing golf is the competition. He also enjoys the mental challenge that is required. “In order to play golf, you need resilience and fortitude. It’s pretty much a mental game. It’s a lot of time to yourself, time to focus and lock in the next shot.”
Diaz humbly mentioned that he is a junior member of The Olympic Club, which is a very prestigious, exclusive athletic club and private social club. It’s the oldest athletic club in the United States, and past famous members include Mark Twain, William Randolph Hearst, Charles Crocker, and Leland Stanford. This is a resource that Diaz has been able to take advantage of through a referral from his golf coach. Though, compared to his golf peers, he hasn’t had the same access to tools, resources, and network needed to get to that next level. Though, that isn’t deterring him from pursuing a career in golf. He is about to finish up his senior year of high school. Even though he has not yet committed to a college, he is looking to pursue his passion of golf. He’s hoping to walk on a golf team and see where the sport takes him – whether that’s going pro, designing golf courses as an architect, or an industrial designer for the latest golf sports apparel and shoes. Outside of golf, Diaz enjoys drawing, playing the guitar and ukulele, and anything having to do with all Bay Area sports: Warriors, Giants, and 49ers.
Hopefully, more Filipino-Americans will be interested in playing golf at a younger age rather than waiting until they are older and have money to play. Times have changed, and we are starting to see more diversity and growth in the sport. A lot of change comes with accessibility. Places like TopGolf make it less intimidating and provide a fun approach, making it easier for anyone to give golf a try.
Tisha Alyn makes a good point: “Golf is very relatable to life. Golf is a game of patience and perseverance. It’s a game that can last a lifetime. You meet so many walks of life and you can play for a really long time because it’s easy on your body. It’s a sport that you can grow old with.” Grab your equipment, set up tee time, and grip it and rip it!
Written by Jennifer Redondo
Co-Founder and Co-Author of In Her Purpose
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