It was a “dream come true” for Noora Komulainen on Sunday at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open as the Finn completed a vision 14 years in the making by winning in front of her husband Roope and daughter Elli.
The 35-year-old finished with four birdies at Royal Beroun Golf Club to force herself into a playoff with Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson and Australia’s Justice Bosio before carding another in sudden-death to hoist the trophy.
It was a victory Komulainen admits she felt might never happen having joined the Ladies European Tour (LET) in 2013 and amassing 198 appearances without a win prior to last week’s event.
“To be honest, I had started to think that I would never get the win,” Komulainen says three days on at this week’s Hulencourt Women’s Open. “I feel like my coach, every time we practiced together he kept telling me, ‘Noora, you are good enough to win!’ I think he has said that to me a thousand times so I guess now I can believe him. But it’s still not really sunk in. I still need to go through what’s happened.
“I played really well all week and managed to keep it going. To be honest, I didn’t really feel any pressure which was the first time in my career that it’s been like that. I have no idea why it was different but I really wanted to win. I felt it was my time. I was playing really solid all week and didn’t make any bogeys. It was my time.”
Komulainen sunk the winning putt in Beroun with husband Roope on the bag. Emotional scenes followed as five-year-old daughter Elli and compatriots Ursula Wikstrom and Sanna Nuutinen ran onto the 18th green to celebrate with her.
“It was a dream come true for me,” the Olympian said. “Especially having my family there and husband on the bag. He used to caddie for me a lot before we had Elli. It’s been a family tradition for us coming to the Czech Republic for that tournament. That was our fourth year in a row going there as a family.
“It’s always been my biggest dream to win in front of them. And especially to win in front of Elli. I’m not too sure if she fully understands but we’ll always have all the videos and photos which we can show her and remember. It was very special for all the family.”
Few winners in recent memory have proved as popular on the LET as Komulainen, now in her 14th season on the circuit, as she has continued to be flooded with messages and congratulated by her tour mates this week in Belgium.
“I have to say it feels so much better to win that I thought it would,” the 35-year-old said. “When you fail 198 times and then you finally get the win, that feeling was unbelievable. It felt even better.
“I’ve had so many messages. Even the president of Finland started following me on Instagram! It’s a big honour. Golf is actually one of the biggest sports in Finland even though we’re covered in ice for six months. I’ve gotten so many requests from the Finnish press.”
Prior to the dramatic victory in the Czech Republic, Komulainen’s best finish on the LET was a T3 which came at last year’s Tenerife Women’s Open. The Finn would continue to work hard in the off-season and started the year strongly breaking the course record 63 (-8) at Sanctuary Cove in Australia.
“After the off-season, I felt like that this might be my year,” Komulainen said. “I was feeling really good. I missed cuts in the first two events and was really disappointed. But then in Australia I had a top-10 and a top-five. I had a course record [at Sanctuary Cove at the Australian WPGA Championship]. That gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year.”
As for this week, Komulainen tees up in the second edition of the Hulencourt Women’s Open in Belgium where she has every right to be beaming with confidence following the playoff heroics in Czechia. The win has moved the Finn into the winner’s category on the LET and qualified her for the AIG Women’s Open later this month.
She continued: “I’ve been on tour for so many years and obviously have a child back home. I don’t want to play every event and this win allows me to play less now. I have now qualified for the AIG Women’s Open which is great. I’m really looking forward to it. I want to win again. It was a great feeling and I want to feel it again. I feel relaxed now but a little tired. I haven’t practiced as much as I usually do so we’ll see how it goes.”
Komulainen gets underway at the 2026 Hulencourt Women’s Open at 13:41 on Thursday playing alongside New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey and Denmark’s Sofie Kibsgaard.
Watch the Hulencourt Women’s Open live and follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook. #HulencourtWomensOpen
