Lauri Merten

{{short description|American golfer}}

{{redirect|Lauri Peterson|the television personality|The Real Housewives of Orange County}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox golfer

| name = Lauri Merten

| image =

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| fullname =

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|7|6}}

| birth_place = Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S.

| death_date =

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| nationality = {{USA}}

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| college = Arizona State University

| yearpro = 1983

| tour =

| extour = LPGA Tour (1983–97)

| prowins = 3

| lpgawins = 3

| otherwins =

| majorwins = 1

| nabisco = T13: 1985

| lpga = 2nd: 1993

| wusopen = Won: 1993

| dumaurier = T30: 1993

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}}

Lauri Merten (born July 6, 1960) is an American professional golfer. She also competed under the names Lauri Peterson (1983–87) and Lauri Merten-Peterson (1988).

Merten was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She attended Arizona State University and joined the LPGA Tour in 1983.

Merten's three wins on the LPGA Tour came at the 1983 Rail Charity Golf Classic, the 1984 Jamie Farr Toledo Classic and the 1993 U.S. Women's Open, which is one of the LPGA's major championships.

When she retired, Merten claimed burnout was the cause. Another factor was undoubtedly the unwanted attention surrounding the murder conviction of her brother-in-law Thomas Capano in 1996.{{cite magazine |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/2002/06/17/the-week |title=The Week January 5–11 |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=June 17, 2002}}