BELLAIRE, Fla. — Sweden’s Lynn Grant was in great control of her game, playing 52 consecutive holes without a bogey, but that streak stopped on Sunday’s final hole and it no longer mattered. She won “The Annika” by three strokes over Jennifer Kupcho, finishing with a 5-under 65.
This was Grant’s second LPGA title and the second time she received the trophy from Swedish great and tournament organizer Annika Sorenstam. Grant won Sweden’s Scandinavian Mix, which was co-hosted by Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson.
“You made this course look easy. It’s not easy,” Sorenstam told her on the 18th green.
Even Grant, who had never felt much stress, must have felt that way. She finished at 19-under 261 and had a chance to break the tournament record until bogeying the final hole. It was his first bogey since Friday’s opening hole.
“There are weeks where everyone feels like their game is really good and they have a chance of winning. I like to see the game go all the way to the end and it’s really nice to be able to really come out of 18 games and pat myself on the shoulder and feel like we actually did it this week,” Grant said.
She is the first Swedish winner of the tournament, which began in 2020, and it’s even more meaningful to Grant because she remembers going to Sorenstam’s clinic in Sweden when she was a little girl and watching Sorenstam hit someone with a wedge and catch it with a baseball glove.
“I started doing it with my dad, so I’m grateful for that,” Grant told Sorenstam.
Kupcho made a birdie on the first hole to move into a tie for the lead, but only for a moment. Grant birdied the next hole and never followed again. The Swede had to make a 15-foot birdie putt to advance after five holes, but took control on the par-3 ninth.
Kupcho made his second bogey on the front nine, and Grant sank a 10-foot birdie putt to extend his lead to three strokes. No one approached us the rest of the way.
Kupcho also closed with a 65.
“I’m glad she played well, because I think it pushed me to play better,” Grant said. “And overall, we thought whoever won was going to do a really good job.”
Mexico’s Gaby Lopez birdied four of the last six holes and finished third with a 65.
Brooke Matthews was also a two-point winner. She hit a hole-in-one with a 9-iron from 140 yards on the 12th hole, earning her a two-year lease on a Lamborghini Huracan. Two holes later, all those great shots 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 9th place and give him enough points to finish in the top 60 in the race to CME Grove. This earns her a spot in next week’s season finale, the CME Group Tour Championship, where the winner will receive $4 million.
“It was wild,” Matthews said. “All week I was thinking, ‘I want to beat Lamborghini.’ … I saw it bounce. I still can’t believe it. I passed out. I still don’t remember very well, so I can’t wait to see it on film.”
Natalya Guseva had her big moment. She holed out with a gap wedge from 109 yards on the final hole for birdie and had to lay up from a fairway bunker, but shot a 68 to lift the Russian into the top 60.
Lucy Lee will also be heading along the coast of Naples next week. With a birdie on the final hole, he shot a 66 and moved up 13 places to 58th place.
Grant was still an amateur in 2020 and was running out of time to extend his annual winning streak anywhere in the world since winning the Nordic Golf League twice. She has won titles on the LPGA, Ladies European Tour, LET Access Series, Ladies Sunshine Tour, Nordic Golf League, and even the European Tour, which co-sanctioned the Scandinavian Mix.
“My father is a man of words,” she said. “When you look at other people’s careers, he always said, ‘If you win every year, that’s pretty solid.’ I think that’s what it is.”
Defending champion Nelly Korda, who has won three times at Pelican Golf Club, started six strokes behind and was unable to keep pace with Grand. She closed with a 69, tied for 15th place.
