After her impressive closing performance at last week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic, it’s hard to believe that Anna Nordqvist actually considered another profession a couple years ago. In earning the fifth victory of her LPGA career, it also marked the first time a family member – this time her mother, on Mother’s Day in Sweden – was present in New Jersey to see the win.
“I try not to think about it now,” Nordqvist said. “But yeah, there was a couple of years ago where I thought that I considered doing something else. I lost all my passion and heart for the game. So I had to make a couple of changes around myself with some people that helped me be positive and helped me stay in the game. … I'm glad I stuck to it, and just knowing the downs that I've had just makes the ups even better now.”
Now, she’s the world’s best Swedish player, following a legacy developed by Annika Sorenstam and Liselotte Neumann. Nordqvist, who turns 28 on June 10, is the only Swedish player to win on the LPGA in the last four years. The previous Swedish winner was Maria McBride at the May 1, 2011 Avnet LPGA Classic. She is also riding a 24-tournament cuts made streak that stretches back to the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open. This fall offers another inspiration, the Solheim Cup in Germany with Swedes serving in leadership roles (captain Carin Koch and assistants Sorenstam and McBride).
Nordqvist is also one of only four players to win three times in the last two seasons on the LPGA (Lydia Ko, Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis are the others).
Following are the winningest Swedish LPGA players:
| Name | Wins | Majors | Earnings |
| Annika Sorenstam | 72 | 10 | $22,573,192 |
| Liselotte Neumann | 14 | 1 | $5,849,334 |
| Helen Alfredsson | 8 | 1 | $5,658,678 |
| Sophie Gustafson | 5 | 0 | $6,173,679 |
| Maria McBride | 5 | 0 | $6,205,478 |
| Anna Norqvist | 5 | 1 | $4,941,401 |
Canadians rising
This week’s Manulife LPGA Classic is the first of two Canadian stops on the LPGA this season (Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, Aug. 20-23 in Vancouver). And it will display a lot of Canada’s recent line of talented golfers.
The main focus will fall on 17-year-old Brooke Henderson, who is playing on a sponsor exemption just more than four hours from her hometown of Smiths Falls, Ontario. Her older sister Brittany, a Epson Tour member who ranks 22nd on the money list, will also be in the field.
Add in Epson Tour members Augusta James (No. 2 on the Epson money list), Sue Kim (14th) and Sara Maude Juneau (38th) to the deep Canadian field that includes LPGA veterans Lorie Kane (four career LPGA titles) and Alena Sharp. Sharp has had a good start to 2015, with 67s to open two of the last three LPGA tournaments and four total first rounds in the 60s this year. Kim was the low Canadian in last year’s tournament, finishing T35.
Brooke Henderson and Kane were also recently named to the two-person Canadian team for the Pam Am Games, scheduled for July in Toronto. The golf, played for the first time in the Pan Am games in advance of next summer’s Olympics golf return, is scheduled for July 16-19 at Angus Glen Golf Club.
This week’s Manulife tournament will also change venues. After playing its first three years at Waterloo’s Grey Silo Golf Course, the tournament moves to Cambridge, Ontario’s Whistle Bear Golf Club. The 6,600-yard course includes a recent $10-million renovation on the clubhouse.
No. 1 back in action
After winning for the second time this season and the seventh time in her brief LPGA career one month ago at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, Lydia Ko looks to get her game back in shape this week in familiar territory.
Ko hasn’t contended since winning in San Francisco, finishing T51 at the Volunteers of America Shootout (first-round 75) and a T16 at the Kingsmill Championship (first-round 71). She didn’t play last week.
However, Canada has been fertile territory for Ko. She won her first two LPGA events as an amateur at the 2012 and 2013 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. Last year in her debut at the Manulife, Ko finished T4. She is a combined 45-under par in 16 Canadian LPGA rounds and has shot just one round over par.
Here’s a look at Ko’s record in the Canadian events:
| Year | Tournament | Scores | Finish |
| 2012 | CP Women’s Open | 68-68-72-67—275 (-13) | Win |
| 2013 | CP Women’s Open | 65-69-67-64—265 (-15) | Win |
| 2014 | Manulife LPGA | 71-67-64-66—268 (-16) | T4 |
| CP Women’s Open | 70-69-72-76—287 (-1) | T55 |
Park going low
Last year, Inbee Park won the Manulife LPGA Classic with a classic final round. The native South Korean who lives in Las Vegas made 10 birdies in a final-round 61 that gained the title. The final round was the lowest in LPGA history by a winner and just one stroke off the LPGA mark for a final round – an 11-under 60 shot by Anna Acker-Macosko at the 2004 Longs Drugs Challenge.
Park won last year’s event one week after losing the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings to Stacy Lewis.
Etc.
Last week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic was the first of three 54-hole events on the LPGA this season. The other two are the June 26-28 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship and the Nov. 6-8 LPGA Japan Classic. … This week’s TV schedule (EDT): noon-2 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2:30-5:30 Saturday and 2-5 Sunday.
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