LOS ANGELES – As Kaleiya Romero ascended the iconic steps from Riviera Country Club’s 18th green to scoring, waiting at the top was her former boss, Oregon head women’s golf coach Derek Radley, who gave his favorite graduate assistant a big, congratulatory hug.
“I’m so proud of that kid,” Radley said of Romero, who is the 23-year-old sister of Kiara Romero, the Ducks’ star junior and the world’s top-ranked amateur.
Both Romero sisters will make the cut at this 81st U.S. Women’s 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’s men’s 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.
“It’s always been a dream of ours to play professional golf together,” Kaleiya said, “but to be in the same U.S. Women’s Open so soon, and now both of us making the cut, it’s so special.”
Two summers ago, Kaleiya thought that dream was over. She’d 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’t love it enough to continue to chase it professionally.
With Kiara’s help, Kaleiya convinced Radley to bring her on as a graduate assistant at Oregon, where she’d work toward a Master’s degree in applied behavior. When Radley’s 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’s NCAA Championship.
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.
“I learned I just need to relax and have fun,” Kaleiya said. “Golf had been super stressful for me, and I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I used to. I didn’t think going to Oregon for a year would do it for me, but it changed a lot.”
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’s when she pulled Radley aside and told him, “Coach D, thank you so much. You and the University of Oregon have helped me find my love for golf again.”
In seven starts this season on the LPGA’s 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’s bag for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, held during the tour’s month-long break.
“It’s been a lot of golf,” Kaleiya said. “Four straight weeks on the road, we didn’t even do that in college, but getting to play at a high level again and seeing that I can compete with them, it’s been a lot of fun.”
Added Radley: “She started having success out there, and she’s like, ‘I belong.’”
The Romeros are renting an Airbnb in Santa Monica this week, right on the beach. Each night, Radley and his “caddie protégé” 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’d 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.
“Trust me,” he told her. Kaleiya adjusted and sank it.
“I saw the board that said plus-4, but you never know, so I was like, let’s not make any more mistakes,” Kaleiya said. “I felt like I had to make that.”
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’s 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.
Kaleiya could find her way to the LPGA at year’s end, too, as she currently sits 15th in Epson points. She won’t get any credit for what she does this week, not that it takes anything away from this maiden achievement.
“Kiara has made the cut before,” Kaleiya said, “but for me, probably my biggest accomplishment in golf.”
The Romeros shared a practice round earlier this week, and as they walked down the first fairway, Kiara turned to everyone and said, “This just feels right.”
Now, they’ll spend the weekend together, living out their dreams.
