Last week Swedish amateur Ingrid Lindblad catapulted herself into the limelight when she fired an opening round of 65 (-6) at the U.S. Women’s Open – the lowest round by an amateur in the tournament’s history.
Rounds of 65-71-71-76 saw the 22-year-old end the competition in a tie for 11th place having been in contention all week at Pine Needles.
But now, Lindblad has returned home to Sweden and will compete in this week’s Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed at Halmstad Golf Club.
An event which is made all the sweeter by the fact the Swedish star lives just a few kilometres away from the course and so will be staying at home during the tournament.
“I’m super excited to play at home,” she said. “I have just come from the US Open and I get to stay at home and play a course that is a couple of kilometres from where I live, it is going to be fun.
“We have a lot of people playing golf here, there are a lot of golf courses around. I love this place; it is close to the beach, and I feel like everyone knows each other – it is a good area!”
Lindblad got to play the first two days at Pine Needles alongside Annika Sörenstam, who is co-hosting the event along with Henrik Stenson.
But having flown across the Atlantic and headed straight to another tournament, the LSU junior hasn’t had time to digest what happened last week.
“I feel like a lot happened last week and it still hasn’t soaked in yet,” she continued. “Last week was really fun, I flew into Copenhagen yesterday and came to pick up my credentials and I couldn’t get to the office before someone stopped me to talk. It has been kind of busy, but it has been fun!
“It was really cool to have the lowest round by an amateur in history. It was fun to play with her and we had a good time. I still don’t really believe it, I got into scoring and was like ‘woah, that’s cool!’.
“I bring to this tournament that it is possible to play good at the US Women’s Open. It is kind of amazing because I putted really good and on those greens it’s something special and then to play at home the week after feels good.”
However, playing well in a notoriously difficult competition has given her confidence and she is looking forward to playing in front of friends and family – even if she doesn’t know exactly how many people will watch!
Lindblad, who is playing alongside defending champion Jonathan Caldwell and Sweden’s Alex Noren added: “I don’t know who is coming to watch! I know my parents and some neighbours and friends, but you have just got to stay in your own zone. You can’t focus oo much on who is there and who is not.”
Follow all the action on @LETGolf on Instagram and Twitter and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #RaiseOurGame #ScandinavianMixed.
