Three players will make their debut for the European side next month in Spain.
In just a month’s time the U.S. and Europe will square off at the 2023 Solheim Cup, and one of the two squads has been set.
European captain Suzann Pettersen announced her four captain’s picks on Tuesday, completing the 12-player team bound for Finca Cortesin in Andalucia, Spain, Sept. 22-24. Team Europe is comprised of the top-two players in the Europe Solheim Cup standings, the top-six players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking (not already eligible) and four captain’s picks.
The Americans have been victorious 10 times, most recently in 2017 at Des Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa, while the Europeans are looking for a third consecutive win and their eighth overall.
Meet the 12 players who will take on the U.S. at the 2023 Solheim Cup.
Linn Grant was on 59 Watch during Saturday’s third round of the LPGA’a Dana Open. While she fell short on becoming the second-ever LPGA golfer to do that, she did post an impressive 9-under 62, hitting 17 of 18 greens and needing just 27 putts to take a six-shot lead after 54 holes at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio.
That 62 matches the low score on the LPGA in 2023 but five-time winner on the Ladies European Tour was aiming higher, trying to become the sixth Rolex First-Time Winner on the LPGA.
Missy Farr-Kaye, Grant’s college coach at Arizona State, was certainly enjoying what she was watching and even texted the CBS broadcast booth to say that Linn “loves to win”.
Consider Grant now a winner on the LPGA.
The last two U.S. Women’s Open champs – Allisen Corpuz and Minjee Lee – tried to give chase during the final round but they were too far back to make a serious dent in Grant’s lead.
Corpuz birdied Nos. 14, 15, 17 and 18 to get to 18 under and cut the lead to two just as Grant was teeing off on the 17th hole.
Grant, who opened with seven consecutive pars, made several par-saving putts on the back nine and closed with a statement birdie on the par-5 18th to seal the win in her 15th LPGA start. A final-round 68 got her to 21 under, three clear of the field.
“I feel like I was so blank today. I just really tried to kind of be in the moment without losing — I was playing well, but I was also scrambling a bit at the end there. So my plan was just try to keep it together without thinking too much about what could happen.”
Linn Grant imitates a selfie as she poses with the trophy after winning the 2023 Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. (Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Corpuz was second at 18 under. Lindy Duncan was solo third at 15 under. Xiyu Lin and Stephanie Kyriacou tied for fourth at 14 under. Maria Fassi was sixth, her best finish since a tie for 15th back in February. Defending Dana Open champion Gaby Lopez finished 12 under, tied for sixth alongside Jaravee Boonchat, Aditi Ashok and Minjee Lee.
Mia Hammond, a 15-year-old amateur who made the cut after opening 68-68, shot 70-72 over the weekend and tied for 21st.
Grant earned $262,500 for the win, which now elevates her into a different conversation: making the European Solheim Cup team.
“It was a big goal coming into this year. Obviously, since I played well on the LET last year, I knew if I just continued to play my game I would be there in September. And I guess it’s even more clear now.”
Rose Zhang’s professional career got off to a fast start, winning the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National in her first event. Three weeks later, the former Stanford star tied for eighth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. And last week at Pebble Beach, Zhang finished T-9 at the U.S. Women’s Open.
However, Zhang has now missed her first cut as a professional after rounds of 66-77 at the Dana Open at Highlands Meadow Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio.
“I will say that I’m a little more fatigued than I would like to be. I caught a cold, so my voice is not exactly the most normal right now. I will say that I had a nine-hour delay going from Phoenix, connecting flight to here. To Detroit actually. So it was a bit of a travel mess. I came in Tuesday morning at 3 a.m., so the practice rounds and the pro-am was a little bit shaky for me. I’m glad that I played a solid round, and hopefully, I can rest a little bit more,” Zhang said after her 5-under opening round.
Her tiredness caught up with her Friday, as she totaled six bogeys and no birdies for a Day 2 6-over 77.
Atop the leaderboard is Annie Park, who’s opened the tournament with rounds of 68-63 and leads at 11 under. U.S. Women’s Open champ Allisen Corpuz is tied for second at 9 under with 18-hole leader Linn Grant, who shot a second-round 69, and Jaravee Boonchant, who also shot a Friday 69.
Seeing Linn Grant at the top of a leaderboard should come as no surprise.
The 24-year-old from Sweden has hardly competed in the United States since earning her LPGA card in 2021 because of COVID-19 vaccination travel restrictions. She managed to keep her card by competing in events only held outside the U.S., recording four top-eight finishes in the span of six events.
In her latest starts this year, both at majors, she placed T-20 at the KPMG Women’s PGA at Baltusrol and T-53 at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. Now, she’s leading the way at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, for the 2023 Dana Open.
A birdie from Linn Grant on her final hole gives her the solo lead at 64 (-7) pic.twitter.com/HnDn1sf3Lp
Grant opened with a 7-under 64 Thursday morning and is tied with Jaravee Boonchant for the lead after the opening round.
“I think coming off last week, playing at Pebble, it was a challenge,” Grant said. “I felt last week that I really hit the ball well and I was putting well. Obviously coming here, you know, easier conditions. That kind of just suited my mindset for the day. I just got on a roll.”
Ariya Jutanugarn and Emily Kristine Peterson each sit at 6 under, but guess who’s at 5 under?
That’s right, it’s Rose Zhang. The 20-year-old star is making her fourth professional start and coming off a T-9 finish at the U.S. Women’s Open, her worst finish thus far. A reminder, Zhang won the Mizuho Americas Open in her debut and placed T-8 at the KPMG Women’s PGA.
This despite an arduous trek from the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.
“I will say that I’m a little more fatigued than I would like to be. I caught a cold, so my voice is not exactly the most normal right now,” she said. “I will say that I had a nine-hour delay going from Phoenix, connecting flight to here. To Detroit actually. So it was a bit of a travel mess. I came in Tuesday morning at 3 a.m., so the practice rounds and the pro-am was a little bit shaky for me. I’m glad that I played a solid round, and hopefully I can rest a little bit more.”
Zhang is T-4, along with Bailey Tardy, Aditi Ashok and Linnea Johansson.
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Linn Grant’s debut at the KPMG Women’s PGA at Baltusrol surely felt like a long time coming for the up-and-coming Swedish star. This week marks Grant’s first major championship on American soil since the December 2020 U.S. Women’s Open, and she’s squarely in the mix heading into the weekend.
Vaccination travel restrictions kept Grant from playing in the United States after she earned her LPGA card in 2021. Remarkably, she managed to keep her card by competing in events only held outside the U.S., recording four top-eight finishes in the span of six events.
Back-to-back rounds of even par on a soggy Lower Course in Springfield, New Jersey, have Grant four strokes back of leader Xiyu Lin.
“I feel like my game is getting better for each day,” said Grant. “That’s usually how I work.”
Now a five-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, Grant said she wouldn’t have the same level of confidence in her game that she now possesses were it not for the experiences she had playing in Europe. She topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol in 2022 and won the Jabra Ladies Open earlier this year in France.
“I try to see it as a positive,” said Grant, who made history when she beat the men at the Scandinavian Mixed last year. “That’s pretty much all I can do.”
Now No. 22 in the world, Grant missed the first major of the season in Texas as well as the chance to represent Sweden at the Hanwha International Crown due to travel restrictions.
With the national public health emergency expiring in May, the former Arizona State player was permitted to compete in the LET event in West Palm Beach, Florida. In her first LPGA start in the U.S., she advanced to the semifinals of the Bank of Hope Match-Play at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.
While the vaccination topic is deeply controversial, Grant said she reads all the comments on her Instagram feed and said most of them have been positive.
“I think a lot of people think that they’re negative,” she said, “but at least on my Instagram they’re all positive.
“The few negative I get, I just brush them off. They don’t know me. They don’t know my reasons.”
The Performance Insights relies on caddies to gather information and turn in a special card after each round.
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Two years ago, KPMG launched an analytics platform to help narrow the information divide between the men’s and women’s games. The program, similar to what’s offered on the DP World Tour, relies on caddies to gather information and turn in a special card after each round. KPMG pays the caddies a small stipend.
It’s an evolving system that gets more useful over time as data accumulates.
Scorecard numbers can only tell so much of the story, and as the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship kicks off this week at historic Baltusrol for the first time, we take a closer look at the Performance Insights numbers of five players to keep an eye on in New Jersey.
Grant, who is currently No. 22 in the world, missed the first major of 2023.
Linn Grant made the most of her first start in the U.S. as an LPGA member. The former Arizona State player has competed around the world – quite successfully – since turning professional nearly two years ago, but could not compete in the U.S. due to COVID-19 restrictions that require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus.
With the national public health emergency expiring earlier this month, Grant was permitted to compete in the Ladies European Tour event in West Palm Beach, Florida, last week. This weekend, she advanced to the semifinals of the Bank of Hope Match-Play at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. Grant ultimately fell to Pajaree Anannarukarn on Sunday morning. The Thai player will face Japan’s Ayaka Furue in the final Sunday afternoon.
Grant, who is currently No. 22 in the world, missed the first major of the year in Texas as well as the chance to represent Sweden at the Hanwha International Crown.
In her LPGA rookie year last season, Grant spent much of 2022 competing around the world on the LET. She won four times on the LET last year, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.
In six LPGA starts last season held outside the U.S., Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.
Earlier this month, she won the Jabra Ladies Open in Evian, France. Grant will soon return home to Sweden to defend her title at the Scandinavian Mixed.
When Grant qualified for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship last November, which boasted a record-setting $2 million first-place prize and $7 million purse, but still wasn’t in the field, she provided a statement to Golfweek that read in part:
“I understand some people want to know why I am not playing in the U.S. I respect that. The simple reason is that I am not vaccinated. Regarding why, I ask the same respect back. It is something I want to keep internally with my family and team.”
Earlier this week in Las Vegas, Grant was asked during a pre-tournament new conference what it felt like to miss so many events as a rookie due to vaccine restrictions.
“I think actually looking back at it now, I really appreciate not coming here earlier,” she said. “I think I wouldn’t have had the experience I’ve had with the LET and all the confidence that I’ve gained through the that year.
“I think that was a great year for me to kind of get into professional golf and learn about my game and traveling and getting used to all the stuff you have to get used to.
“So I feel like I’m more prepared now coming here than I would’ve been a year ago. I think everything happens for a reason. I think there was a reason for that.”
Grant will also miss the 2023 Chevron Championship, the first LPGA major of the year.
Linn Grant has played all over the world in 2023 – from Morocco to South Korea to Thailand to Singapore to Saudi Arabia. But because she is not vaccinated against COVID-19, Grant has not yet competed in the United States.
In January, the U.S. government extended its existing COVID-19 restrictions, which require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus. The national public health emergency will expire on May 11, and the hope for Grant is that she’d be eligible to compete in the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play event in Las Vegas, May 24-28.
In the meantime, she’ll miss the 2023 Chevron Championship, the first LPGA major of the year which is next week, as well as the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, which will be played May 4-7 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The top four Swedish players in the Rolex Rankings qualified for the event. Grant, who is currently the highest-ranked Swede at No. 22 in the world, was replaced by Caroline Hedwall, who is ranked 117th. Maja Stark (27), Madelene Sagstrom (28) and Anna Nordqvist (34) round out the Swedish team.
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. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.
In six LPGA starts last season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.
Grant has yet to win in 2023 but has two top-four finishes on the LET. She recently tied for 36th on the KLPGA.
Grant played a limited LPGA schedule last year for the same reason as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Linn Grant will begin her 2023 season in Morocco next week on the Ladies European Tour. One of the most promising young players in the game, Grant was forced to play a limited LPGA schedule last year because U.S. travel restrictions won’t let her in the country as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Grant, who is currently No. 28 in the Rolex Rankings, will be able to compete in the LPGA’s upcoming Asian swing, but her agent, Pelle Krüger said they’re not optimistic that she’ll be able to compete in the year’s first major, the Chevron Championship.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic was not able to compete in the U.S. Open last summer for the same reason.
In January, the U.S. government extended its existing COVID-19 restrictions, which require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus, to April 10. Kruger told Golfweek that while they’re still trying to obtain a pass for special circumstances, they don’t foresee things opening up until at least early May. The Chevron is slated for April 20-23.
On Monday, the Biden administration announced plans to end both the national emergency and public health emergency declarations on May 11.
Linn Grant poses with the trophy after winning the 2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika at Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden. (Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
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. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.
In six LPGA starts last season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.
Worst-case scenario, Grant will play in all the LPGA events held outside the U.S. (around 10 or 11) and add in the same number of LET events in between.
Sweden is one of eight countries that qualified for the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown, which will be played May 4-7 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The top four Swedish players in the Rolex Rankings as of April 3 will qualify for the event. Grant is currently the second-highest ranked Swede, behind Madelene Sagstrom (25th).
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.
𝑺𝑾𝑬𝑬𝑻 𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑬 
