{"id":3298,"date":"2024-03-18T12:28:11","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T12:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/18\/we-are-this-good-swedish-golfs-rising-star-hopes-history-making-win-will-be-watershed-moment-for-womens-game-cnn\/"},"modified":"2024-03-18T12:28:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T12:28:11","slug":"we-are-this-good-swedish-golfs-rising-star-hopes-history-making-win-will-be-watershed-moment-for-womens-game-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/18\/we-are-this-good-swedish-golfs-rising-star-hopes-history-making-win-will-be-watershed-moment-for-womens-game-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are this good\u2019: Swedish golf\u2019s rising star hopes history-making win will be watershed moment for women\u2019s game | CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u2018We<\/div>


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\n CNN<\/span>
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0
\n <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n

\n As Linn Grant left the course at Halmstad Golf Club in Tyl\u00f6sand, Sweden, she found herself swarmed by a group of young fans.\n <\/p>\n

\n Clamoring for anything and everything in the Swede\u2019s golf<\/a> bag, they excitedly waved pens in the hopes of securing an autograph. Grant duly obliged, signing everything from hats to golf balls.\n <\/p>\n

\n It was a buzz worthy of a landmark achievement: Grant had just become the first-ever female winner on the DP World Tour<\/a> with her victory at the Scandinavian Mixed event on June 12.\n <\/p>\n

\n And as if making history wasn\u2019t enough, she did so in dominant fashion, cruising the 156-player field. A weekend-best eight-under 64 on the final day confirmed an emphatic win, with Grant\u2019s 24-under par seeing her finish nine shots clear of runners up Marc Warren and fellow Swede Henrik Stenson, and 14 shots clear of the next female player, Gabriella Cowley.\n <\/p>\n

\n The win was made all the sweeter by the fact that it was a victory at home \u2013 in all senses of the word. Boyfriend Pontus Samuelsson caddied, with friends and family supporting among an ecstatic Swedish crowd.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe atmosphere there, I could feel that,\u201d Grant told CNN Sport. \u201cI felt that it was just because I was from there, but after sitting in the car on my way home, I saw social media calls, journalists reaching out \u2013 everything just grew \u2026 it\u2019s a bit insane.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Minjee Lee\u2019s win<\/a> at the US Women\u2019s Open a week prior had seen the Australian scoop $1.8 million, the largest payout in women\u2019s golf history<\/a>. Yet Lee\u2019s unprecedented earnings were dwarfed by the major-record $3.15 million taken home by England\u2019s Matt Fitzpatrick for winning the men\u2019s event<\/a> just one week later.\n <\/p>\n

\n With her historic win making worldwide headlines, Grant is optimistic her success will help the women\u2019s game take another step forward.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think a lot of people can relate to women\u2019s golf,\u201d perhaps even more so than the men\u2019s game, she said, because \u201cthey [men] hit so far and the courses are not long enough.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI hope it will have some sort of effect that people might look at it and see we are a bunch of players who are this good, hit the ball far enough, hit it close enough, hold the putts and score well.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI just hope more people realize that. And then we look better and we\u2019re nicer too!\u201d Grant added with a laugh.\n <\/p>\n

\n Having only turned 23 a week after the win, victory in Halmstad marked the latest peak in what has been a meteoric rise for Grant since turning professional in 2021.\n <\/p>\n

\n Three wins in four months on the Ladies European Tour (LET) have helped rocket Grant to second in the rankings in The Race to Costa del Sol, a 28-tournament LET season set to crown a winner at the Andaluc\u00eda Costa del Sol Open de Espa\u00f1a in November. Incredibly, she leads the chasing pack despite playing the fewest events of any of the top-nine scoring players on the Tour.\n <\/p>\n

\n While some players struggle with the jump from amateur to professional, Grant has thrived.\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n \"Grant<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cMy last year as an amateur, whenever I dropped out of the zone of being able to win, it was almost like it wasn\u2019t motivating anymore,\u201d Grant said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe feeling that I\u2019m playing for money now \u2013 that it\u2019s my living \u2013 all of a sudden, I feel like it doesn\u2019t matter [dropping out of the zone]. If I can just make it birdie on the last I can still earn more than if I didn\u2019t.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The only player besting Grant in The Race to Costa del Sol is childhood friend Maja Stark. Teammates on the Swedish national team from a young age and students at the same high school, the duo share a close bond.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI always cheer her on and I hope she does the same for me, which I know she does,\u201d Grant said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have someone there that knows the situation you\u2019re in and to be able to talk to about things that other people either can\u2019t get their head around or simply don\u2019t understand.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n \"Stark<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Not that their friendship has stopped Grant from declaring the desire to chase down and beat Stark to Spain as one of her key season goals.\n <\/p>\n

\n With Johanna Gustavsson trailing Grant, an all-Swedish trio at the summit of The Race to Costa del Sol reflects the Nordic country\u2019s dominance on the LET and the rising stock of golf in Sweden, which has already produced a legend in the sport.\n <\/p>\n

\n In Annika Sorenstam<\/a>, Grant has a towering role model. Sorenstam, co-founder of the Scandinavian Mixed event, forged one of the greatest careers in women\u2019s golf history with 10 major triumphs and 72 LPGA tournament wins before her professional retirement in 2008.\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n \"Grant<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Grant cites two reasons for the recent surge of top women\u2019s players in the country: the investment and effort of the Swedish Golf Federation to grow the game and, paradoxically, the harsh Nordic climate.\n <\/p>\n

\n As snowy conditions cut short the golfing season in the country, Swedish players must work extra hard to maximize training, with Grant putting \u201clost\u201d practice time into other activities that will aid her game, such as the gym.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe cannot play 12 months a year, which gives you a bit of thick skin,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt\u2019s zero degrees, you just have to go out there and hit wedges or whatever you need to practice on.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n With her historic victory in the Scandinavian Mixed event, it appears that attitude is paying off \u2013 and helping Grant in her mission to grow the sport and act as a role model, not just for women but for all who play the game.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf that win can help anyone or just give someone a bit of extra motivation, I\u2019m happy,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 As Linn Grant left the course at Halmstad Golf Club in Tyl\u00f6sand, Sweden, she found herself swarmed by a group of young fans. Clamoring for anything and everything in the Swede\u2019s golf bag, they excitedly waved pens in the hopes of securing an autograph. Grant duly obliged, signing everything from hats to golf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/220627170208-07-linn-grant-pontus.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[605],"tags":[233,1228,2999,896,1640,1749,697,1912,1551,5792,5791,5794,4194,1641,988,1642,458,964,1223,5790,5793,1460,708],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3300,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3298\/revisions\/3300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}