As the world’s top-ranked amateur, Ingrid Lindblad has faced hundreds of daunting opening tee shots in her life. There’s one that paints a canvas in her memory.
It vividly comes to life inside Lindblad’s head. It’s intimidating and historic, demanding yet memorable. Millions have observed it, many even mimicking it in their own head, but few have attempted it. It’s one Lindblad, 23, replays over and over again.
After winning by four shots at the second stage of LPGA Q-School in November, Lindblad had every reason to forgo the spring semester of her final collegiate season and turn professional. Instead, she remained loyal to LSU, where she’s a graduate student.
She has unfinished business. She wants to win another SEC Championship. She wants to win a national title.
Bigger than all, she wants one closing stab to conquer the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. And that starts with the opening tee shot on the par-4 first, named Tea Olive.
“You’ve got that bunker right, and then if you’re a drawer and can’t carry that bunker, you have a hard time finding the fairway,” Lindblad said. “You want to hit a fade off the tee. Being the first hole, you want to get off to a good start.”
The opening shot is what first comes to mind when Lindblad thinks about Augusta National. It’s the place where she was the most nervous before hitting a shot in her career. It’s also a shot she has faced twice, overcoming the hole both times en route to top-three finishes.
Another shot at ANWA after two top-three finishes
Lindblad’s record at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur is stellar. In 2021, she finished T-3 and a shot out of a playoff. The next year, she shot 68 in the final round with two eagles to finish T-2 and a shot behind the winner.
Last year was an anomaly, as she missed the 36-hole cut and didn’t get to head to Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday and hit that first tee shot. It has been on her mind ever since.
With the inaugural ANWA debuting in 2019, the first two rounds take place at Champions Retreat Golf Club, nestled 15 miles up the road in Evans, Georgia. Only the top-30 players after 36 holes get to play the final round at Augusta National.
That’s why missing the cut in 2023 laid the groundwork for her to remain an amateur.
Lindblad has been one of the best college golfers in the country since she stepped on campus in Baton Rouge. She is a four-time first-team All-American, being named a finalist for the Annika Award, given to the top women’s collegiate golfer, all four years. She has won 13 times in her career, an LSU record, and also has the school record for career scoring average (70.31) and top-10 finishes (39 in 46 total events).
At the 2022 U.S. Open, Lindblad set the record for the lowest 18-hole score by an amateur, shooting 6-under 65 at Pine Needles playing in the same group as fellow Swede Annika Sorenstam.
But she wants more.
“There was unfinished business there,” LSU coach Garrett Runion said. “She would go home for Christmas break and people would be asking when she would turn pro. But she likes LSU. She likes her teammates and she continues getting better. She also wanted to win a national title, individually and as a team.“Then there’s Augusta National.”
Even with Lindblad’s marvelous consistency, her college career has somewhat been overshadowed. The pandemic took away the end of her freshman season. Then as a sophomore, then-freshman Rachel Heck at Stanford burst onto the scene, winning nationals and the Annika Award. The next two years, as Lindblad continued winning and setting records, the best women’s amateur of all time, Rose Zhang, was dominating the college landscape.
Thanks to COVID, she chose to return to LSU for a fifth year, as did teammate Latanna Stone, who also finished runner-up at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2022.
Unfinished business.
“At first, I wanted to just play in the fall,” Lindblad said. “Then after stage two, I decided I actually wanted to stay the whole year so I can get another shot.
“It was the right decision.”
ANWA: ‘The Masters of the amateur world’
Lindblad not only had a strong pathway to turning professional, she dominated LPGA Q-School’s second stage, winning by four shots. Thanks to a recent LPGA rule change, she would need to turn professional before having a chance to earn an LPGA card. The win guaranteed Lindblad status on the Epson Tour in 2024, but she was in no rush to turn professional.
Her final season of college golf is going a lot like the first four.
Lindblad has won twice in six stroke-play events, her worst finish being T-5. She has been runner-up twice and been a shot out of medalist honors in another start. She’s again looking like a shoo-in for first-team All-America honors and in her best position yet to win the Annika Award.
The thought occupying her mind most often, though? The opening tee shot at Augusta National.
“I’m trying to take it one tournament at a time, but it’s not that easy,” Lindblad said of looking ahead. “You don’t want to only work on short-term things for each tournament. It’s not all you can focus on.”
The final part of Ingrid Lindblad’s amateur career is swiftly approaching. First, it’s the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. A week later, the SEC Championship. Then, it’s time for NCAA postseason play.
Lindblad has plenty of lofty aspirations over the next couple months. For the average amateur, they may seem unattainable or difficult to even dream that big.
Lindblad isn’t an average amateur. The next two months are why she decided to come back to school and delay turning professional for six months. It’s what she has prepared her entire life for, to compete and thrive in the biggest championships. It’s a perfect springboard into the future.
“It’s an amateur major,” Lindblad said of ANWA. “You’ve got the best players there from the whole world. It’s the Masters of the amateur world.”
And amongst the azaleas the first week of April, Lindblad plans to be hitting a fade down the first fairway, just like she has visualized thousands of times.