Sweden’s Louise Rydqvist made up for the disappointment of defeat in the final of the 2022 British Women’s Amateur with a dominant three-stroke victory in last week’s European Ladies Amateur Championship in Finland.
In losing that final two years ago, to Jess Baker at Hunstanton in England, Rydqvist missed out on an invitation to that year’s AIG Women’s Open, but the wait was surely worth it. Her victory at Messilä Golf, an hour’s drive north of Helsinki, has earned her a first major-championship start at the home of golf, St Andrews, in next month’s AIG Women’s Open.
Seven shots off the pace after 18 holes following an opening round of 1-over-par 73, the 23-year-old Rydqvist, a senior at the University of South Carolina, carded a second-day 66 to move into a share of fourth at the halfway stage. She bounded two shots clear of the field with a third-round 67.
In the final round, Rydqvist reached the turn in 1-under but was caught on 11-under by the Spaniard Andrea Revuelta, who played the front nine in 3-under, while another Swede, Meja Örtengren, played it in 2-under to sit just one shot off the pace.
Rydqvist confirmed her class on the back nine, however.
She made three birdies to complete a round of 4-under 68 and a total for the week of 14-under 274. Revuelta played the back nine in level par to finish three shots adrift, and Örtengren dropped a shot as she claimed solo third, five strokes in arrears. Rianne Mikhaela Malix of the Philippines, who won the U.S. Girls’ Junior the week before, finished alone in fourth on 7-under, and France’s Alice Kong claimed fifth on 6-under.
“I’m extremely happy,” Rydqvist said after sinking the winning putt, a birdie at the par-5 18th. “Gosh, it hasn’t really soaked in yet. It’s a lot of emotions.
“I’m just proud of the way I fought out there today. It was definitely one of my goals for this year, to finish on the podium in this event, and to be on top is definitely an accomplishment, so I’m very, very happy.”
The contrast between her past experiences in the championship (three starts, three missed cuts) and her walk up this year’s 72nd hole with a two-shot lead was extreme and maybe contributed to her signing off with a final par breaker.
“I was just kind of walking and looking around me,” she said of that final stroll to victory. “I was very grateful for where I am and for my team that brought me to the place I am today, as a golfer and also as a person.”
She became the fourth Swede to win the title after Maria Hjorth (1995), Caroline Hedwall (2007, 2009) and Ingrid Lindblad (2021).
Rydqvist also claimed the top spot in the R&A’s AIG Women’s Open Amateur Series as a result of her win in Finland and her semifinals appearance in the Women’s Amateur Championship at Portmarnock (she did not play in the St Rule Trophy). Were she not already exempt from the AIG Women’s Open, it would have earned her a spot.
RESULTS
Matt Cooper