ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The only European winner on the LPGA this season to date?
That would be Sweden’s Linnea Strom.
The 27-year-old Strom won the Shoprite LPGA Classic back in early June and along with France’s Celine Boutier are the only Europeans to have won on the tour since last year’s Solheim Cup.
With the biennial team event switching to even-numbered years, the Solheim Cup will again take place this Sept. 12-15 in Gainesville, Virginia. And with an abbreviated qualifying period, it would make sense that Strom is at least on the radar.
Only it doesn’t seem that way.
“Not really,” Strom said Thursday at the AIG Women’s Open when asked if European captain – and fellow Swede – Suzann Pettersen had reached out to her since Strom’s maiden LPGA triumph.
“Maybe [surprised] a little bit. There haven’t been other Europeans winning on the LPGA this year, so I was maybe expecting that. But I know it’s a quick turnaround with Solheim being last year … trying to focus on what I can do, and that’s play good golf.”
Other than her win, however, Strom admittedly hasn’t performed how she would’ve liked. She has missed 11 of 18 cuts this year, doesn’t own another top-10 finish and is ranked No. 107 in the world rankings, which makes her 18th highest-ranked European – and fifth-ranked Swede.
Prior to turning pro, Strom had tons of team success. She helped Arizona State to the 2017 NCAA Championship. She also played two Junior Ryder Cups and a Junior Solheim Cup while also being a part of a pair of Vagliano Trophy-winning squads and representing Sweden in two victorious European Girls Team Championship showings.
On Thursday at St. Andrews, Strom opened in 1-under 71.
“I’m just trying to put that in the back of my head,” Strom added, “and if I have a good week then maybe.”