Anne van Dam is hoping to finish a half ironman race in less than six hours
Last week, Anne van Dam placed 10th in the LET’s season-ending Andalucia Open de Espana. This week: She’s hoping to finish a half Ironman race in less than six hours.
Players last week in Spain told her she’s crazy. The triathlon’s total distance is 70.3 miles, and it begins with a 1.2-mile swim, followed by 56 miles of biking and a 13.1-mile run.
Players, however, also believe the inspiration behind van Dam’s decision is pretty amazing. She’s racing for Grace Godfrey, the 2-year-old daughter of LPGA player Jane Park and husband Pete, a long-time caddie on tour.
In the summer of 2021, during the Volunteers of America Classic in Dallas, Grace was hospitalized with seizures and brain swelling.
As van Dam noted in her social media post last month, Grace is still having seizures and undiagnosed epilepsy. Some of the needed equipment, hospital treatments, specialized therapies and accessibility features in the family’s home are not covered by insurance.
The Dutch player set a goal of raising $50,000 and many in the golf community have already stepped up to donate. Even players who aren’t in van Dam’s close circle have done what they can.
“That’s special,” she said.
A five-time winner on the LET and a member of the victorious 2019 European Solheim Cup team, 27-year-old van Dam first began competing on the LPGA in 2019. While she often runs during the season and takes long bike rides to clear her head, swimming, she said, messes up the feel that she needs for golf. She got back in the pool this week to train.
The race is slated for Dec. 4 in Indian Wells and La Quinta, California.
“So far this week I’ve done two 1,500 meter swims,” she said, “which were a little tougher than I expected.”
One of the longest players in women’s golf, the ultra-athletic van Dam said she got into racing triathlons when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the tour for several months in 2020. Nothing quite like this though.
Certainly nothing that carried so much meaning.
“She called me and told me her plans and, of course, I burst into tears,” Park told lpga.com. “I can’t imagine doing any of those things (in a triathlon) but to do them all in a row is just mind-boggling. And to do them in California when you played in a tournament in Spain last week, it’s insane. But we are so grateful. For her and for everyone.”
The Ladies European Tour season ended with a banner day for Swedish golf.
The Ladies European Tour season ended with a banner day for Swedish golf as veteran Caroline Hedwall won for the first time in four years and three Swedes topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol: 1) Linn Grant 2) Maja Stark 3) Johanna Gustavvson.
Hedwall defeated Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España. Grant closed with a 65 to finish third and top the year-long rankings.
“I am just very relieved, very happy,” said Grant. “This is huge for Swedish golf, having Johanna as well at No. 3 on the rankings. I’ve had Carro [Hedwall] as a role model myself to just see her out there winning and getting that moment for herself is awesome as well.”
Hedwall, 33, posted a bogey-free 67 on Sunday to finish at 18 under. Metraux, who won earlier this season at the Ladies Italian Open, recently clinched her LPGA card for the 2023 season with a share of fourth at the Pelican Women’s Championship.
“I wasn’t sure I still had it in me,” said Hedwall. “It’s so nice to get it together and get this win. It has been a roller coaster to be honest. I had injury in 2014 that was really tough on me, and I had a hard turn on my self-confidence. That win in 2018 meant a lot to me.
“It was tough during COVID-19. I didn’t want to travel as much but now it’s more or less back to normal and it feels great. My game is coming together really nicely, and it was awesome to finish with that.”
A seven-time winner on the LET, Hedwall said making the 2023 Solheim Cup team in Spain will be a goal for next season. She has made four previous Solheim Cup appearances.
Grant won four times on the LET in 2022, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. Stark won three times on the LET this season, including the ISPS Handa World Invitational, a co-sanctioned event with the LPGA that gave her immediate tour status. Stark, who like Hedwall played collegiately at Oklahoma State, finished out the season on the LPGA, placing 52nd on the Race to CME Globe points list.
Grant earned LPGA status last year at Q-Series but was unable to compete on U.S. soil this season due to her vaccination status. The former ASU star still managed to compete in LPGA events around the globe, however, finishing 56th on the CME rankings. In six LPGA starts this season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.
The Aramco events are not official LPGA events, but the LPGA did enter into a joint venture with the LET in 2019.
Lexi Thompson won for the first time in three years at the Aramco Team Series event at Trump Golf Links Ferry Point. The victory certainly meant plenty to Thompson, who last won at the 2019 ShopRite LPGA Classic and has suffered a number of heartbreaking losses.
But what does it mean for the LPGA?
It’s a complex question.
There are six events on the Ladies European Tour schedule that are sponsored by Golf Saudi and the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The Aramco Team Series and it’s $1 million purses have no doubt added a significant amount of money to the LET schedule, where it’s tough to make a living. Only 29 players have made over 100,000 euros so far this season, and that’s without travel costs and other team/caddie expenses.
The Aramco events are not official LPGA events, but the LPGA did enter into a joint venture with the LET in 2019.
From a financial standpoint, it’s lucrative for LPGA players to compete in Aramco events, even if the purses are smaller than those on the LPGA. Organizers offer appearance fees to LPGA players, a rare occurrence in the women’s game. The events also carry world ranking points.
Several of the top stars who competed in the Aramco event in New York did not compete in the LPGA event that preceded it in California, nor will they be in the field at this week’s BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea or two weeks later in Japan.
It’s worth noting that with the Taiwan event gone from the schedule, there’s a week off between the events in South Korea and Japan, making it a tough Asian swing.
Still, some of the big names at Aramco won’t be playing on the LPGA again until the Pelican Women’s Championship in mid-November. That’s a six-week break from the LPGA.
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman has made it clear that they’re interested in a women’s tour. LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan has said that she will meet with LIV. What comes of those conversations remains unknown, but it’s clear from the field in New York – and many previous Aramco fields – that LPGA stars are comfortable taking money from Saudi Arabia. In some cases, they’re comfortable enough to wear the Aramco and Golf Saudi logos.
Last week at Ferry Point, Lexi Thompson was asked during a press conference if, given the backlash that has occurred with LIV Golf, LET and LPGA players should face similar scrutiny, especially given Saudi Arabia’s history of human rights abuses toward women.
“I would say that without the support of Aramco, LET would not be as strong as it is today,” said Thompson. “And I think they are growing the game of golf in women’s golf, and I think that if you speak to any of the Ladies European Tour players, they are extremely grateful for this opportunity, and I think that’s what Aramco is trying to do. They are trying to grow the women’s game, and I support that fully.”
LPGA and LET players who are sponsored by Golf Saudi pose for a photo ahead of the New York event.
Both Thompson and Korda were also asked for their thoughts on becoming involved with LIV, should the opportunity present itself.
“I can only speak for myself, but my eyes are set on the LPGA,” said Korda. “That’s all speculation to me. I’m focusing on the LPGA Tour and what’s in front of me and with all the LIV stuff going on, that’s all speculation and I don’t focus on speculations.”
Added Thompson: “Exactly. All we are doing is focusing on the LPGA tour and what we are playing. No opportunities have been brought upon us or the tour, so I know Mollie said that she would have conversations, but that’s not in our control. We are just doing what we can on our tour.”
An open letter to the @LPGA Commissioner, Board of Directors, and Players — pleading them not to embolden MBS by potentially aligning with LIV Golf.
— Lina Alhathloul لينا الهذلول (@LinaAlhathloul) October 11, 2022
Prior to the start of the Aramco event in New York, activist Lina Alhathloul posted an open letter to the LPGA commissioner, board of directors and players, urging them to distance themselves from the Saudi regime.
In the letter, Alhathloul described the abuse her sister, Loujain, a prominent activist in Saudi Arabia, has faced – being kidnapped off the streets and deported back to Saudi Arabia where she was held in prison and tortured.
“Now, I understand that you might believe that your involvement with such a country could positively impact their fate, but given the present context,” Alhathloul wrote, “your participation in events hosted by the Crown Prince will only help rehabilitate him and cover up all the violations. In fact, I am sounding the alarm on the consequences of such events, which form part of the authorities’ strategy to use art, culture and sports to distract from the dire human rights situation on the ground.”
“I came into today just the way I played yesterday, just playing aggressive golf, and being kind of fiery.”
Lexi Thompson hoisted a trophy for the first time in three years at the Aramco Team Series in New York. The 27-year-old American star, who last won at the 2019 ShopRite LPGA Classic, closed with a 69 at Trump Golf Links Ferry Point to win by three over Brooke Henderson and Madelene Sagstrom.
“I came into today just the way I played yesterday, just playing aggressive golf, and being kind of fiery,” said Thompson.
“I hit a great shot on No. 1 to like 6, 7 feet and made it and I wanted to play fearless golf and not play away from pins by any means and commit to my shots. I hit some really good ones and I hit some iffy ones but with this wind and everything, you have to take the bad ones as best you can.”
Thompson played the team portion of the event with former NFL player Brice Butler.
“We had a good time the last two days,” she said. “I think what Aramco and Saudi Golf does for golf and women’s golf especially is growing and very honored to be here.”
Former No. 1 Nelly Korda carded an even-par 72 to finish solo fourth, four shots back.
“It’s really nice to see her win and it’s really good for golf for her to win as well,” said Korda. “She played really solid golf, and she’s been playing really solid golf this year. It was just around the corner.”
Thompson, like Korda and Henderson, will skip the next two events in Asia and return to the LPGA for the final two events in Florida. Thompson lost to Korda last year in a playoff at the Pelican Women’s Championship. She’s a former champion of the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, one of her favorite stops on tour.
The victory in New York serves as a significant confidence boost for the 11-time LPGA winner. Her only other victory on the LET came at the 2011 Dubai Ladies Masters.
“I have about two and a half, three weeks off,” said Thompson, “and I’m going to be working my butt off to keep on improving and hopefully finish strong in my last few events of the year.”
The Aramco Series carries points for World Rankings and the Race to Costa del Sol, a season-long race that determines the LET’s top golfer.
Golf Saudi backs six of the events on the LET schedule. The tournaments, backed by the Public Investment Fund, remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
“I said earlier in the year that I feel like my best golf is yet to come.”
When Liz Young competed at the 2016 AIG Women’s British Open while seven months pregnant at Woburn, one of her favorite clubs, and called it “paradise golf.”
What happened last week must have felt similarly blissful. Young, 39, won the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open to secure her first title on the Ladies European Tour. She radiated joy while holding the trophy – a wooden cow.
“I said earlier in the year that I feel like my best golf is yet to come,” said Young. “That sounds strange when I’m about to hit the big 4-0 next month.”
Young, who won in her 200th start on the LET, turned professional in 2009 and has $657,512 in career earnings. Congratulatory messages have poured in since her one-stroke victory over young Swedish hotshot, Linn Grant. Current players, past players who stopped to have children, older players who were thrilled to see a thirtysomething beat up the young guns, all celebrated. This was a popular victory.
Young isn’t the oldest player to win this season: South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace won the Investec SA Women’s Open in April at 41 years, 1 month and 17 days old. Still, it’s a rarity on any tour. Only 28 players aged 35 and over have competed on the LET this season.
Young’s husband Jonathan and daughter Isabelle were back home in England when she won in Switzerland. Jonathan works as a graphic designer and typically gets out to about three events per year. Because the men’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth was going on at the same time, the Swiss Ladies Open wasn’t being shown live in England. Friends took videos of Young during the final round, and Jonathan received them through a text message chain.
“It just shows me now, that after 14 years, I can actually win,” said Young. “I’m hoping there’s more to come.”
Young flew to England Saturday night and spent a few hours at home on Sunday before picking up the car and boarding the ferry to France for this week’s event. Known as an accurate player, Young has worked since the winter on better distance control with her irons.
The toughest time as a mom on tour, she said, came three years ago, when Isabelle would beg her not to leave. While LPGA players have benefitted from the Smucker’s LPGA Child Development Center for nearly 30 years, there’s no daycare provided on the LET.
“It’s hard enough to win when you’re not a mother on any tour,” said former LPGA player, major winner and mom Karen Stupples, “the competition is so deep this days. But, as a mother, she can only devote half of the amount of time that the players that aren’t mothers do. So the time that she has, she has to be so perfect with her practice and so perfect with what she spends her time on.
“And she has to deal with the guilt of spending time away from her child. And then when she’s with her child, feeling guilting that she’s spending time away from her golf.”
Liz Young of England hits her 2nd shot on the 3rd hole during the first round of the 2016 Ricoh Women’s British Open on July 28, 2016 in Woburn, England. (Photo by Tony Marshall/Getty Images)
Isabelle turns 6 next month and Young is grateful that her daugther enjoys the before-school breakfast clubs and after-school clubs with friends when she’s away. It also helps that both sets of grandparents live nearby.
When Young is home, she always does the school drop-off and pick-up and focuses entirely on being a mom. She tries not to be gone more than two weeks in a row. If it’s more than that, Isabelle usually travels, too. She was onsite at both the British Open and Scottish Open this past August.
“It actually works out pretty even, if you look at it from a year’s perfective,” said Young of the amount of time she’s away compared to a more traditional job.
A total of six moms have competed on the LET so far this year, including Catriona Matthew, who famously won the 2009 British Open at Royal Lytham 11 weeks after giving birth to her second child.
Stupples calls Young’s feat, with no tour-provided daycare, remarkable.
“I don’t even know how it’s possible, to be honest,” said Stupples.
Liz Young’s daughter Isabelle on the first day of school this year. (courtesy photo)
Young has no desire to compete on the LPGA, but she would like to stay out on the LET a good deal longer. Her ultimate goal was always to win, which means she’ll now have to come up with something new.
In 2020, it was Young who first sparked the idea that led to the Rose Ladies Series, an initiative backed by Justin Rose and his wife Kate that provided much-needed playing opportunities for English professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now there’s a Rose Ladies Open on the LET Access Series, which kicks off Sept. 23-25 at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire.
This year’s Rose Ladies Series featured five events in the spring that filled in gaps on the LET schedule.
Young also serves on the LET Board, bringing a life perspective that Stupples calls “absolutely crucial.”
“Definitely becoming a mother, especially having a daughter,” said Young, “I just want to leave it in a better place.”
It’s the first win for Nelly Korda since returning from injury.
Nelly Korda has another trophy she can add to her collection.
Korda, the third-ranked female golfer in the world, won the individual title Saturday at the Aramco Team Series event at Sotogrande in Spain. A final round 5-under 67 was enough to capture the title by three shots. She finished at 13 under and won $73,955.
The Aramco Team Series features team and individual competition and has five events this year. The first two were in Bangkok and London. The next is in New York. The event is co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour. It’s Korda’s second LET victory.
Jessica Korda led heading into the final round, but a 77 on Saturday landed her in a tie for second with Pauline Roussin and Ana Pelaez Trivino. Jessica’s team won the team competition, which concluded Friday, at 33 under.
“I haven’t won this year, so it feels nice to get a win under my belt, but I’m also very sad as it wasn’t the day Jess was expecting,” Nelly said. “I guess we were hoping for a bit more of a battle going down the stretch, but it’s golf and that sometimes happens.”
Maja Stark earns LPGA membership while Ewen Ferguson wins for second time on DP World Tour.
Last week at Muirfield, Sweden’s Maja Stark asked herself “What would Tiger do?” throughout the AIG Women’s British Open. It was a call to be both aggressive and fearless. After a final-round 79, her instructor encouraged her to just be Maja.
Turns out 22-year-old Stark can find great success without channeling Woods.
A 10-birdie day and course-record 63 landed Stark a five-shot victory at 20 under Sunday at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland. The event, which is co-sanctioned by the LPGA, DP World Tour and LET, gave Stark the chance to immediately accept LPGA membership for the rest of 2022 and 2023, which she did.
“That was all I came here for,” said Stark. “Like I just wanted that winner’s category. I was so nervous. I hate qualifying. It’s great that I don’t have to do that again.”
Maja Stark has accepted @lpga membership, which means we’ll be seeing the new rookie pull off this kind of action a lot more often! https://t.co/BrelOrSnLz
While Stark’s sparkling play in the final round earned her the title, Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson posted a course-record of his own, a 9-under 61, on Thursday at Galgorm Castle on the strength of two eagles and capped off a wire-to-wire victory in the men’s division.
The men and women competed for equal prize money in two separate 72-hole stroke play events. The two fields split a purse of $3 million.
Ferguson’s final-round 69 put him at 12 under for the tournament and two shots ahead of compatriot and friend Connor Syme. It marks Ferguson’s second victory on the DP World Tour.
“My whole family’s life revolves around me playing golf,” said Ferguson. “Their happiness seems like it’s all about me and my golf. It’s been a good year, and obviously you get times where it doesn’t go so well, so I think you really need to appreciate things where you’re picking up trophies or you’re making cuts and you’re doing all right because it’s a really tough game.”
Ferguson did note, however, that he banned his parents from coming this week because he needed to focus. He was surprised by how calm he felt on Sunday.
“I said to my mum last night,” said Ferguson, “no matter what, if I win or lose, I’m going to smile at the cameras so everyone is feeling happy at home.
“Tried my best to do that.”
Connor Syme embraces Ewen Ferguson on the 18th hole at the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle and Massereene Golf Clubs in Northern Ireland. (Photo: Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)
Ireland’s Leona Maguire, the highest-ranked player in the field this week, finished 10th. The former Duke star said last week at Muirfield, where she took a share of fourth, took a lot out of her.
“I didn’t really have any ‘A’ game this week,” said Maguire, “so squeezed a bit out of it in the end, and always nice to finish with a good round on Sunday.”
American rookie Allisen Corpuz finished a career-best second with birdies on the last two holes. Georgia Hall of England came in solo third, followed by Linn Grant.
Stark and Grant have pushed each other since they turned professional, and Grant was there to celebrate with her friend when she walked off the green at Galgorm Castle. Earlier this summer, Grant became the first female to win on the DP World Tour when she beat the field of men and women by nine strokes at the Scandinavian Mixed.
On Saturday, the two young Swedes played together and set a goal of trying to make a combined 16 birdies. Stark shot 69 in that round.
Stark, a former Oklahoma State standout who left college after two seasons, has now won seven times since turning pro nearly one year ago. She now has five-time LPGA winner and Solheim stalwart Sophie Gustafson, a fellow Swede, on her bag. Stark’s title marks the 100th victory on the LET for Swedish players.
“I did not expect this at all,” said Stark. “If you told me a year ago that I would have a win on the LPGA, I would not have believed it.”
The LPGA was in grave peril when Lewis joined more than a dozen years ago. There were 23 events on the schedule.
BETHESDA, Md. – Cristie Kerr calls Congressional’s renovated Blue Course one of the best she’s ever played. As LPGA players drive courtesy Cadillacs this week, dine in a gargantuan clubhouse – complete with sugar cookies shaped like the Washington Monument – and compete for a $9 million purse, double last year’s at the KPMG Women’s PGA, Stacy Lewis has a message: “In our history of the LPGA, this is far from normal.”
The LPGA was in grave peril when Lewis joined more than a dozen years ago. There were 23 events on the schedule, and nearly half of them were overseas.
“This current group of players, I don’t think they quite realize how lucky we are with the opportunities that we have,” said Lewis. “I mean, they have come to expect them over the last four or five years, that this setup this week is normal.”
Stacy Lewis makes a notation on the 11th fairway during the practice round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club on June 22, 2022 in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Katherine Kirk, one of only a handful of players over 40 who competes regularly on the LPGA, worries about an “entitlement attitude” permeating the tour. She looks back on what the LPGA founders did themselves in the 1950s to get this tour off the ground – promotions, course setup, rulings, marketing – and holds a deep appreciation.
“In comparison to that, we have it easy,” she said. “We just rock up to tournaments.”
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said the total purse on the LPGA in 1972 was $972,000. This week’s winner will earn $1,350,000.
“Pretty remarkable growth,” said Marcoux Samaan. “And even in 2021, I think our purses were just over $70 million, and now, to be in 2022 over $97 million is really great.”
Of course, money is the talk of the game right now. As a field of 156 women celebrate the second-biggest purse in tour history this week, PGA Tour stars are leaving their already lucrative tour for mind-blowing amounts of guaranteed cash on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf. The never-ending Saudi news cycle already drowns out the biggest headlines in the women’s game – even at the majors.
When asked if she was concerned that a similar Saudi-backed threat could come to the LPGA, Marcoux Samaan said: “Listen, we wake up every day trying to make the LPGA the leader in women’s golf and to make it the very best tour. That’s what we focus on. We have a great staff. We have great partners. We have the best players in the world. We’re really just doubling down on what we’re doing.”
As for LIV Golf’s ambitions in the women’s game, CEO Greg Norman recently told the BBC, “we’re here to grow the game golf on a global basis, not just in one specific sector, which is men’s. It’s across the board.”
One week after the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series was held at Centurion Club, the Aramco Team Series London presented by Public Investment Fund event was held at the same course.
The Saudi-backed Aramco Series is part of the Ladies European Tour, which falls under the LPGA umbrella.
During a pre-tournament press conference in London, Golf Saudi ambassador Bronte Law lauded Linn Grant’s groundbreaking victory on the DP World Tour – where the Swede trounced a field of men and women by nine strokes – and pushed for more mixed events.
“The perfect example is tennis,” Law said. “Why do the women get paid more than we do? The reason is because they play on the same site and they get the same media coverage.
“So if we can play at the same course, get the same TV coverage, there’s no reason why our purses can’t increase.”
With Golf Saudi already invested in women’s golf, many wonder what might be coming next. Could Law’s call for more mixed events or concurrent events featuring men and women already be in the works for Golf Saudi? And, if so, how many players would leave for the chance to earn more money?
“Put it this way, I think you would see almost the entire tour do it here,” said Kerr. “What we play for here compared to the men’s Tour, the scale is different.
“But at the same time, KPMG just upped the purse to $9 million. We’re starting to see a rising tide lifting all the ships. … It’ll be interesting to see how it affects this tour.”
Bronte Law offers fresh opinion on aligning women’s and men’s golf.
LPGA player Sarah Kemp must compete in a minimum number of LET events each season to maintain her membership in Europe, and flying up to New York for an Aramco Team Series event later this year would be awfully convenient. But Kemp doesn’t like that the money for the event comes from the Saudi Arabian government.
However, she understands that women who compete on the LET full-time have little choice but to compete in the six Saudi-backed events, noting that budgets are so tight on that tour, one player drove an Amazon truck during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It would be so great to have a few more KPMGs in the world,” said Kemp, “a few more CMEs that would love to support women’s golf.”
KPMG U.S. Deputy Chair and COO Laura Newinski said on Tuesday that they like the notion of pressure and momentum in the growth of the game, what it does to bring attention and awareness to the value of the product. The USGA set a new standard with a $10 million purse at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open. Each LPGA major has raised its purse significantly in recent years.
“As a sponsor, this isn’t a competition,” said Newinski. “It’s a come-along and let’s do right by the game in terms of what we’re putting into it.”
Gaby Lopez of Mexico celebrates after winning the Blue Bay LPGA on November 10, 2018, in Hainan Island, China. (Photo by Zhe Ji/Getty Images)
If LIV creates something new for women’s golf, Gaby Lopez thinks she’d likely stay on the LPGA.
“Just for my core values,” she said. “I don’t really play for money. I really play to win championships. To me, it’s more important.”
But, she can see others viewing it differently.
“I think a lot of players will think about it because there are a lot of girls that are struggling, even on the sponsor side,” said Lopez. “I wouldn’t be surprised if girls leave this tour.”
When Kirk thinks about the possibility of Saudi money threatening the LPGA, she thinks not just about the tour itself, but the LPGA teaching division and the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program that has exploded in recent years. What becomes of those?
“I just hope players understand the consequences of decisions that don’t just affect you,” said Kirk. “They affect generations to come.”
One week after an historic $10 million purse at the U.S. Women’s Open, Linn Grant made another leap for the game.
One week after the women played for an historic $10 million purse at the U.S. Women’s Open, Linn Grant made another leap for the game by becoming the first woman to win on the DP World Tour.
Grant, 22, crushed the field of 78 men and women by nine strokes with a closing 64 at the Scandinavian Mixed, hosted by Henrik and Annika. The nearest woman finished 14 back.
Beating the men, she said, was most important.
“All week i just felt like it’s the girls against the guys,” she said, “and whoever picks up that trophy represents the field.”
Grant, a former Arizona State standout, came into the final round with a two-stroke lead and birdied five of the first six holes at Halmstad Golf Club to begin her tear. She posted 26 birdies and an eagle in her 24-under performance in front of massive crowds. Her nine-stroke victory is the largest on the DP World Tour so far this season.
Linn Grant is presented with the trophy by tournament hosts Annika Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson after winnng the 2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika at Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
Swedish co-host Henrik Stenson, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, including the 2016 British Open, finished second along with Scotland’s Marc Warren, who closed with a 65. Stenson shot 70 on Sunday.
The unique event, co-sanctioned by the LET and DP World Tour, features two different sets of tees for the men and women, who competed for the same $2 million purse. A total of 30 Swedes took part in the competition. Grant, who lives about an hour away from the course, embraced Swedish icon Annika Sorenstam after her extraordinary triumph.
Grant has now won three times in six starts this season, including her last event, The Mithra Belgian Ladies Open in late May. Grant won $30,000 for that victory in Belgium, and $319,717 dollars for the Scandinavian Mixed.
“I just hope that people recognize women’s golf, more sponsors go to LET than the men’s tour,” said Grant. “Hopefully this pumps up the women’s game a little bit more.”
Jason Scrivener leads but just two shots back are two women, including a 19-year-old college student.
The Scandinavian Mixed 2022 is a unique event in pro golf, with a field of 78 men and 78 women from the DP World Tour and the LET competing against each other for one trophy and one first-place check.
After two rounds, Jason Scrivener is 12 under and holds a two-shot lead. He had eight birdies Friday, including four in a row on his back nine, en route to a 64. He’s 214th in the latest Official World Golf Ranking and has yet to win on the DP Tour.
There’s a three-way tie for second at 10 under and there are two women in that group, including Italian Carolina Melgrati, 19, who just finished her freshman year at the University of Arizona. She started her week with a 65 and was tied for the lead after the first round. A second-round 69 has her in contention to win as an amateur this week.
Carolina Melgrati on the 15th green during the 2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika at Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden. (Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
“It is crazy! It is so great,” Melgrati said after her first round. “As soon as I got the invitation, I said yes, I’m playing because it is great to compete with professional golfers. It is amazing and that is also my dream, so it is coming true.”
Melgrati is joined at 10 under by Linn Grant, a former Arizona State standout who turned pro last September. Playing in her native Sweden, Grant won two weeks ago at The Mithra Belgian Ladies Open.
Also at 10 under is Mike Lorenzo-Vera.
The event has Volvo Car as the title sponsor, is co-hosted by Annika Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson and is being staged at Halmstad Golf Club in Halmstad, Sweden.
