Leonie Harm is back in the city where she spent four years at college as she gets ready to tee it up at Golfcrest Country Club in Houston.
The Aramco Houston Championship is the fourth event of the PIF Global Series this year and sees 104 professionals compete in both the 36-hole Team competition and the 54-hole Individual stroke play competition.
Harm attended the University of Houston between 2016 and 2019 graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences.
Returning to Houston means a lot to the German, who enjoyed her time at college where she set multiple programme records, and will have friend Devaughn Robinson on her bag this week.
“I had four really amazing years in Houston, I made some good friends there and had a really adventurous journey of playing collegiate golf,” said Harm. “I studied here because Houston is known to have a great cancer research centre, and I studied biochemistry and biophysics with the aim of going into cancer research.
“That’s how I ended up here and loved my time here and I’m excited to compete in my first professional tournament in Houston. One of my closest friends is on my bag this week and I’m so excited to have him along for the rounds in this humidity. I wouldn’t want to spend it with anyone else.
“I would love to contend this week. This would mean so much to me with it being in Houston. Once this tournament was announced as being in Houston, I knew I had to tee it up here.”
Although Harm’s dream was never to be a professional golfer, she left the amateur ranks in 2020 and has been playing on the Ladies European Tour (LET) for the past five years.
Despite having recorded runner-up finishes on Tour in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, she struggled with her game for the past two years and considered ending her professional golf career at the end of 2024.
However, she met Scott Edwards – a coach – in Saudi Arabia and he was able to tweak things in her swing and make a difference to her game.
“I came to the point where I thought what am I doing? I was fighting for cuts and I felt like I couldn’t compete with the best people out here anymore and I couldn’t contend,” she explained. “That became such a frustrating feeling. I didn’t see any improvement in my game even though I put a lot of work in it and I was doing everything I could.
“I had big struggles with my ball-striking in the 2023 and 2024 seasons that I couldn’t solve. I got different perspectives, but they were all focusing on the same thing. After caddying for Momoka [Kobori] in Riyadh, I spoke with Scott as he follows an interesting system with coaching, and it immediately clicked.
“He recognised how my swing would peak instantly and saw exactly what the missing part was. That was so refreshing. To see a difference on video was the first step and he had a similar vision for my swing. Rather than clean it up, he took my strengths and weaknesses and made the most out of it.”
Harm has overcome a lot in her life including bereavement, working in vaccine development and surviving a car crash.
The 27-year-old has played in seven LET events in 2025 with her best finish of the year, a T2 result, coming at the Hills Open in Sweden.
After 36 holes, Harm shared the lead alongside Swedish amateur Meja Örtengren – who went on to win the tournament – but she was pleased to be back in contention once again.
She added: “It was incredible, I love playing tournaments in Sweden. The golf course was absolutely gorgeous. It was another very challenging golf course and to see my game excel in these conditions was great for my confidence. It wasn’t quite enough to win because Meja played incredible golf and she really deserved that win. In general, the whole event was so much fun.
“I have collected enough points for my card to be secured for next year and I made a joke to Scott earlier in the year that if we did that I’d give him a bonus. That takes a lot of pressure off and I’m curious to see how I’ll do without the career-ending threat hanging over me.”
Harm was picked by 2024 LET Order of Merit winner Chiara Tamburlini in the team competition this week and they will also play alongside Spanish duo Teresa Toscano and Blanca Fernandez.
The German player will begin her first round at 9.30 am (local time) on Friday at Golfcrest Country Club.
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