Meet this quirky, charming and unafraid LPGA rookie who is ready to just ‘see how this goes’

TARZANA, Calif. — Natasha Oon has finally had some moments to exhale.

She sat in a comfortable chair on a walkway just outside El Caballero Country Club, recalling her electrifying start on the LPGA as she prepares for this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship just outside Los Angeles.

The 24-year-old sensation announced her rookie season with all caps and exclamation marks. She holed-out for an eagle at the Fortinet Founders Cup and landed on the SportsCenter’s top-10 list of the day’s best performances. The highlight was more for her reaction—falling to the ground in celebration—than the awesome shot. She’s taken a hot air balloon ride and dazzled in long-form interviews. This week she went to Erewhon to try the popular Strawberry Glaze Smoothie (she thought it was good but not $21 worth) and Sidecar Donuts. She got in some workouts and played golf, too.

Oon had a rapid rise from college to the Epson Tour to the LPGA but in a snap of the fingers she went from that to dealing with a relentless and perplexing foot injury.

She spent the last couple of weeks at home in the Bay Area to take it all in. She had a good start by finishing tied for 53rd at the Founders Cup and tied for 60th at the Ford Championship, but she’s still trying to get the feel back that she once had.

But people are talking about more than her golf game.

“People are coming up to me and telling me, ‘Oh, I love your interviews,’” Oon said. “Honestly, I’m just being myself. I think it’s cool to have that reception and know that I could be a little relatable with people. I’ve gone through a tough time, and my walls are down.”

She recently tried out for an a cappella group and didn’t make it, but she had fun.

“It was very cool,” Oon said. “I got to sing bass.”

She’s taken voice lessons, and she’s still got karaoke, so she’ll be just fine.

Her interviews are fascinating because she’s just as interested in asking reporters genuine questions as she is in answering the ones thrown her way. Her interviews should be shared in media training as an example of how to get it right. People can’t get enough of her eccentric self.

That’s Oon. She oozes charm and is exactly what the tour is looking for when it comes to marketing their stars and telling stories. When she hit the turf and got on ESPN, it was raw, unplanned and unfiltered.

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Sarah Stier

“I have to say that’s her in a nutshell. She is a showman,” said World Golf Hall of Famer Juli Inkster, who is a mentor. “I think it’s great for the LPGA to have that. She’s not afraid to show her emotions. She’s not afraid to let people know who she is. I love that about her. When I played, you could tell if I was shooting 65 or 85. She’s kind of that same way. She’s not reserved. She’s not afraid to step up.”

The two are forever bonded as former San Jose State golf stars. Oon received the Inkster Senior Award for being the highest-ranked senior college golfer, so they’re always linked with that meaningful recognition as well.

Inkster is more than an advisor; she’s family. Juli’s husband Brian helps Oon with her game, and Oon credits him with much of her success her senior year at San Jose State. Juli helps with everything else, especially life on tour, advice, the mental side of the game and more.

“She’s always checking on me,” Oon said of Inkster. “We just built this relationship and bond that runs deeper than mentor and player, I feel like she’s family. I know I’ve got someone that has my back. It’s a corner that I can always go to if I need it.”

Oon’s rookie season was delayed by two years because of the aforementioned foot injury, a sesamoid stress fracture. The recovery was arduous. Originally, she waited for the fracture to heal. There was a lot of pain and tears and that plan didn’t work. She then had surgery to remove a bone and slowly but surely, Oon is back on track. Both her game and her vibe.

“She’s got a great personality and she likes people,” Inkster said. “She kind of a little quirky. She loves being in the limelight. She was injured for two years. I think it really hurt. She’s always been really outgoing and likes to be around people and likes to play golf.

“When she was injured, she lost a little of that spirit. I can’t relate to what she went through because as soon as I got out of college, I wanted to go out and play and I did. For her not to have that option and be hurt for a couple of years, that’s hard. I think she’s found joy again. I think you can see in her golf and way she handles herself.”

It’s hard to believe but Oon said she didn’t speak until she was 2 or 3 years old. Her parents were worried, but once she started talking, the floodgates opened. She was born in Indonesia, started playing golf as a young girl in the Philippines and spent most of her childhood in Malaysia. She didn’t have an easy time making friends in high school. And now, as she chatted about her fast start, she says hi to just about every caddie, golfer and tournament official. She noticed a golfer’s mismatched socks, too.

Oon earned her LPGA card in 2023 when she finished second on the Epson Tour, a year in which she was named Rookie of the Year. After the sesamoid fracture, she’s had to shake the rust of her game. In that round where she holed out on the 16th at Sharon Heights, she had a wild scorecard with four pars, five bogeys, one double bogey, seven birdies and that eagle.

The entertainer in her wasn’t rusty, however. She’s watched the highlight a lot but the comments are awesome to her.

“I mean, people love that,” Oon said. “They want to watch golf. They want to see excitement and reaction, right? They just don’t want to see no reaction.”

Oon came to Los Angeles early to get a round in at Riviera Country Club last Friday. It was her first time playing at the revered course, and she’d love to tee it up there in the U.S. Women’s Open in June. She’ll be playing in a qualifier to try to get in, but already she was wowed. She’s a fan of Ben Hogan and got to see photos of Hogan in the clubhouse, although she didn’t see the bronze statue at the practice putting green, overlooking the 18th hole.

Al Chang/ISI Photos

“I have a little love for retro. It’s just aesthetic and nice. It’s historical,” Oon said. “You know when the radio turns on, it’s a little staticky and the announcers are saying something and they have that old type of accent? I think that’s so aesthetically, pleasing.”

Oon hit the tour and made such a splash you’d think new sponsors would be lining up to add their name on her bag and shirts. That could happen, especially if her golf game matches her star power. It hasn’t happened yet, and that’s OK by Oon, who wants to earn everything through her play.

“I want to know where my game is at. I really want to feel like I belong and feel connected to the tour and feel like I’m part of tour before I do anything like that,” Oon said. “I feel like too many things happening at once there would be too many expectations and too many things, it gets you sometimes, right? Let me focus on playing. Let’s see how this goes, and then if things come, things happen, they happen.”

And right now, she’s happy to be here.

“I know the struggles she’s gone through, and I can see in her texts found her joy again and passion to play golf,” Inkster said. “I’m happy for her. Whether she plays golf good golf or not, and I think she will, she will be great for the LPGA. I’m looking forward to watching her.”

Count us in, too.

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