Former amateur standout Ingrid Lindblad races to Evian co-lead (64) in first major start as a pro

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[PHOTO: Matthew Lewis]

Ingrid Lindblad’s professional major debut could prove bountiful for Europe’s prospects of retaining the Solheim Cup for the fourth straight time. The world No.1 in the Women’s Amateur Golf Rankings for 53 weeks turned professional after the US Women’s Open in June. Lindblad earned a sponsor exemption into the Amundi Evian Championship thanks to winning the Annika Award, given to the top Division I college player in America.

She opened with a bogey-free, seven-under 64 to sit tied for the lead in her first competitive round at the Evian Resort course in France. It’s early, but if the Swede happens to win she’d be eligible for Ladies European Tour membership, which would mark the third consecutive Solheim Cup where a player won tour membership to be allowed to qualify for the matches.

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“I said before I teed off today, ‘Kind of just trust the process and the score will come,’” Lindblad said. “So that’s kind of what I did today.”

Lindblad’s predecessor as No.1, Rose Zhang, was the most recent player to win her way into Solheim eligibility. Zhang won the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open in her professional debut last June, earning LPGA membership, a requirement to be eligible for the American Solheim roster.

Europe had its last player earn their way onto the team in 2021. Matilda Castren won the LPGA Mediheal Championship in April, proving her a worthy Solheim talent. But Castren, like Lindblad, didn’t have LET membership, which is required to make the European team. Qualifying school wasn’t an option to earn membership before the Cup since it happened after the competition. Castren’s only way of becoming a member was winning one of four LET events she could attend, balancing competing on the LPGA and going back and forth across the Atlantic. The Finnish woman solved the problem quickly, taking care of business in her first chance at the Gant Ladies Open in her homeland.

The situation is different for Lindblad, who has played three events on the Epson Tour since becoming a professional. A victory would grant her membership in both the LPGA and LET since the major is a co-sanctioned event. However, the LET confirmed that with the Solheim Cup roster being finalised after the AIG Women’s Open on August 26, Lindblad could not play in enough LET events to meet the LET events requirement (eight) to make it onto the European team. The only way to bypass the requirement is to receive one of captain Suzann Pettersen’s four captain’s picks, which would be likely for a major champion.

Lindblad, 24, is a month into her professional career after a five-year, 15-win NCAA career at Louisiana State University. She missed the cut in her Epson debut, then finished T-25 at the Otter Creek Championship and runner-up at the Island Resort Championship on June 21. Lindblad explained overnight in France that those three events helped get her feet wet to the routine of professional golf.

“Don’t change your swing coach and don’t try to move somewhere where you haven’t lived before and just try to keep most things the same way as you had it the past couple of years,” Lindblad said.

Lindblad spent the past 10 days back in Sweden to prepare for the Evian, seeing her coaches and hitting off sidehill lies to mirror the shots she’d face at the sloped major venue. Lindblad has past major experience, playing in four AIG Women’s Opens and three US Women’s Opens, but had never been in the Evian. She hit 16 greens in regulation for her clean card, taking advantage on her final nine holes by birdieing five of seven holes. The round beat her previous major best of 65 in the 2022 US Women’s Open, where Lindblad set and still holds the all-time best round by an amateur in the major.

Lindblad wears a bracelet that says, “Be where your feet are,” a reminder to focus on what is in front of her on the course. While she didn’t think about it after putting it on on Thursday morning, at moments during the first round, Lindblad caught herself imagining how well her day could go. Instead of dreaming of where this major title could take her, she focuses on taking on one sloped shot at a time.

“That’s the thinking with the process, just trying to one shot at a time and do what you can with that shot,” she said.