INDIAN WELLS, California - Heather Lin faced improbable odds entering the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells this week as she sat in 54th place in the Race For the Card to attain her LPGA Tour card.

Lin was in a must-win position based on projections for her to finish in the top 15 in the Race and to earn 2025 LPGA Tour Membership.

After shooting a 4-under 67 on Sunday Lin won the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells to win her first professional tournament.

It couldn’t have come at a better time as the victory catapulted her into 15th place in the Race, guaranteeing her 2025 LPGA Tour card.

“That's definitely a dream come true. I mean, honestly, coming into this week, I was just trying to get out of stage two because with my where my ranking is at and, you know, I knew I had a chance,” said Lin. “I was in contention. And the I mean, I don't even know if winning was good enough to get it, the 15th card. But, you know, everything worked out perfectly.”

On Friday, Lin fired an 8-under par 63 to set the 18-hole tournament scoring record at Indian Wells Golf Resort which was also her career low 18-hole score. She recorded a hole-in-one in her first round on No. 18 with a 6-iron from 179 yards where she shot a 67 (-4).

Lin played on the Oregon Ducks women’s golf team from 2018-2022. During her senior year, she earned All Pac-12 First Team honors along with helping the Ducks claim the first conference title in program history in 2022. It was this same year that Oregon made it to the NCAA Championship match, losing to Stanford in 3-2 loss, where Lin won her match.

After finishing her senior season at Oregon, Lin earned her Epson Tour status by finishing T47 in Final Qualifying at the 2022 Q-Series.

With the win at the Epson Tour Championship, the Chinese Taipei native has earned three top-10 finishes in 2024 including at Florida’s Natural Charity Classic (T5) and IOA Golf Classic presented by LPT Realty (T10).

Lin was one of 29 players to make every start (19) on the Epson Tour this year.

In her sophomore season on the Epson Tour, Lin is already moving on to the LPGA Tour in 2025 thanks to a timely win that required her to hold on to the lead which she held after the second and third rounds.

She started the final round with a one-stroke lead but would make birdies on holes 3, 6, and 9 to take a two-stroke lead. Lin made a double bogey on hole 10 though dropping her back into a tie for first.

But Lin responded with birdies on holes 12 and 13 to put her back in the lead. After pars on the next three holes Lin was joined in first by Malaysian golfer Ashley Lau, but a birdie on the par-5 17th turned out to be the difference maker.

She earned the one-stroke victory by holding off a field all trying to climb into the top 15 in the Race for the Card in the final tournament of the Epson Tour Season.

“I was actually super nervous. I mean, this is my first time ever be in this position and first time ever winning a professional tournament,” said Lin of holding her lead through the end. “But my coach yesterday was prepared for me. He was like, you're going to be very, very nervous. You know, just would be prepared about that. And then just deep breath. Try not to like fight it instead of like accepting it. And I tell you, I know I'm nervous. You know, I know I'm shaking. But, you know, just deep breath, and yeah, I think I did a pretty good job for the first time.”

Lin set the Indian Wells Golf Resort scoring record for 72 holes, shooting 268 (16-under).