Li holds record for youngest match-play qualifier in U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links history (10 years, 8 months, 16 days), surpassing
Michelle Wie's 2000 record by a mere 7 days. who qualified in 2008. surpassing Latanna Stone's 2012 record age of 10 years, 11 months and 2 days by beginning the first day of the tournament at age 10 years, 10 months and 4 days old on August 5, 2013. In 2014, at the first ever Drive, Chip and Putt Championship on the Sunday preceding the
78th edition Masters Tournament at
Augusta National Golf Club, she won the Girls 10–11 age division. The event was televised on the
Golf Channel and was sponsored by the
United States Golf Association,
Professional Golfers' Association of America and Augusta National to increase youth participation in the sport. Over 10,000 youth from over 110 sites participated in a qualification process that yielded 88 qualifiers from 8 age/gender brackets from each of 11 regions. On May 19, 2014, she became the youngest (age 11) to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open, surpassing Thompson's record (12 years, 4 months, 18 days) from
the 2007 Open. Notably, Li not only qualified, but she won her qualifying event by seven strokes at Old Course at
Half Moon Bay Golf Links. nine years prior to the introduction of qualification in 1976, Li, who had reached a 1.5
handicap by April,
Edel Golf designed custom clubs that
Golf Digest described as "blinged-out" for Li to use in the Open. In the first round on Thursday, Li shot a 78 (+8), which had been the highest score that anyone who made the cut in the
2013 Open had tallied. She followed that up with a second 78 on Friday for 156 (+16) and missed the cut by seven strokes. She then walked the course as a fan that Sunday. She scheduled an appearance in the July
U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links in
DuPont, Washington next. Li shot 74 and 70 to qualify for match play where she lost to Alice Chen in sudden-death of the first round after posting a stroke play equivalent of a 71. She did not schedule any other USGA events in 2014, deciding instead to play local events and be an 11-year-old. In 2015, she did not qualify for the
2015 U.S. Women's Open. In August 2016, Li won the Junior PGA Championship. The following month, she was on the winning team for the 2016 Junior Ryder Cup. She earned low amateur honors at the
2017 ANA Inspiration by being the only amateur to make the cut. She was named to the
Junior Solheim Cup team for the United States, who won 14.5–9.5. In October she won The PING Invitational, and she won her next event, Rolex Tournament of Champions, in November. On May 14 at the Contra Costa Country Club,
Pleasant Hill, California, Li qualified for the
2018 U.S. Women's Open, where she was again the youngest player in the field. She was one of seven amateurs to make the cut, and she finished tied for 55th with a 299 (+11). Li was selected to represent the USA in the June 8–10,
2018 Curtis Cup. The United States won by the widest margin in the history of the event (17–3) and Li won her singles match against
India Clyburn 5 and 4. At the 2018
U.S. Women's Amateur, Li was co-medalist and earned the number one seed for the match play portion of the event. She lost in the quarter-finals to eventual champion
Kristen Gillman on the 19 hole. She contributed to the 2018
Junior Ryder Cup victory. At the
2018 Summer Youth Olympics, Li teamed with
Akshay Bhatia to win the mixed team silver medal. In 2019, the USGA investigated Li's amateur status after she appeared in an
Apple Watch advertisement. Rule 6:2 states: "even if no payment or compensation is received, an amateur golfer is deemed to receive a personal benefit by promoting, advertising or selling anything, or allowing his name or likeness to be used by a third party for the promotion, advertisement or sale of anything. A person who acts contrary to the rules may forfeit his amateur status and as a result will be ineligible to play in amateur competitions." She was given a warning but maintained her amateur status. Li was named to the 2019 Junior Solheim Cup team. ==Professional career==