BELLAIRE, Fla. — Sweden’s Lynn Grant was in nice management of her sport, enjoying 52 consecutive holes and not using a bogey, however that streak stopped on Sunday’s ultimate gap and it not mattered. She gained “The Annika” by three strokes over Jennifer Kupcho, ending with a 5-under 65.
This was Grant’s second LPGA title and the second time she acquired the trophy from Swedish nice and event organizer Annika Sorenstam. Grant gained Sweden’s Scandinavian Combine, which was co-hosted by Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson.
“You made this course look straightforward. It is not straightforward,” Sorenstam instructed her on the 18th inexperienced.
Even Grant, who had by no means felt a lot stress, will need to have felt that manner. She completed at 19-under 261 and had an opportunity to interrupt the event file till bogeying the ultimate gap. It was his first bogey since Friday’s opening gap.
“There are weeks the place everybody looks like their sport is actually good they usually have an opportunity of profitable. I wish to see the sport go all the best way to the top and it is very nice to have the ability to actually come out of 18 video games and pat myself on the shoulder and really feel like we really did it this week,” Grant stated.
She is the primary Swedish winner of the event, which started in 2020, and it is much more significant to Grant as a result of she remembers going to Sorenstam’s clinic in Sweden when she was somewhat lady and watching Sorenstam hit somebody with a wedge and catch it with a baseball glove.
“I began doing it with my dad, so I’m grateful for that,” Grant instructed Sorenstam.
Kupcho made a birdie on the primary gap to maneuver right into a tie for the lead, however just for a second. Grant birdied the subsequent gap and by no means adopted once more. The Swede needed to make a 15-foot birdie putt to advance after 5 holes, however took management on the par-3 ninth.
Kupcho made his second bogey on the entrance 9, and Grant sank a 10-foot birdie putt to increase his result in three strokes. Nobody approached us the remainder of the best way.
Kupcho additionally closed with a 65.
“I’m glad she performed nicely, as a result of I believe it pushed me to play higher,” Grant stated. “And general, we thought whoever gained was going to do a extremely good job.”
Mexico’s Gaby Lopez birdied 4 of the final six holes and completed third with a 65.
Brooke Matthews was additionally a two-point winner. She hit a hole-in-one with a 9-iron from 140 yards on the twelfth gap, incomes her a two-year lease on a Lamborghini Huracan. Two holes later, all these nice photographs made sense when Matthews chipped in for eagle.
This gave him a 65 (a card containing scores of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) to tie him for ninth place and provides him sufficient factors to complete within the prime 60 within the race to CME Grove. This earns her a spot in subsequent week’s season finale, the CME Group Tour Championship, the place the winner will obtain $4 million.
“It was wild,” Matthews stated. “All week I used to be considering, ‘I need to beat Lamborghini.’ … I noticed it bounce. I nonetheless cannot consider it. I handed out. I nonetheless do not keep in mind very nicely, so I can not wait to see it on movie.”
Natalya Guseva had her large second. She holed out with a spot wedge from 109 yards on the ultimate gap for birdie and needed to lay up from a fairway bunker, however shot a 68 to carry the Russian into the highest 60.
Lucy Lee will even be heading alongside the coast of Naples subsequent week. He birdied the ultimate gap and shot a 66, shifting up 13 locations to 58th.
Grant was nonetheless an newbie in 2020 and was working out of time to increase his annual profitable streak anyplace on the planet since profitable the Nordic Golf League twice. She has gained titles on the LPGA, Women European Tour, LET Entry Collection, Women Sunshine Tour, Nordic Golf League, and even the European Tour, which co-sanctioned the Scandinavian Combine.
“My father is a person of phrases,” she stated. “Once you take a look at different individuals’s careers, he at all times stated, ‘When you win yearly, that is fairly stable.’ I believe that is what it’s.”
Defending champion Nelly Korda, who has gained thrice at Pelican Golf Membership, began six strokes behind and was unable to maintain tempo with Grand. She closed with a 69 to tie for fifteenth place.
