Frida Kinhult is aiming for her first career win on the LPGA Tour, leading with 18 holes to play amongst a crowded leaderboard at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer. Across the sea in Europe, a friend, fellow Swede and 2022 Tour rookie Linn Grant holds the 54-hole lead by two strokes at the Scandinavian Mixed, a co-sanctioned event on the Ladies European Tour and DP World Tour. Kinhult said she checked Grant’s scores before her afternoon tee time and said it was “good motivation” as she prepared for her second round in Galloway.
“Hopefully I'll see her win tomorrow before we tee off here. For her to beat the guys out there would be really, really cool,” said Kinhult.
A win by Kinhult would make it the third-straight year with a different Swedish victor on Tour, dating back to Madelene Sagstrom at the 2020 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio and Anna Nordqvist’s most recent major title at the 2021 AIG Women’s Open. The influx of Swedish success is not lost on Tour, especially by Pernilla Lindberg, who became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2018 Chevron Championship. The 35-year-old, who became a Tour rookie in 2010 said it’s been thrilling to watch the latest crop of Swedish golfers come into their own.
“Linn and her kind of whole generation, we've been on the lookout for them for years now. Between her, Maja Stark, Ingrid Lindblad, Frida Kinhult out here, had a great day yesterday, they have all grown up playing against each other from a young age and it's going to be really exciting to see what that next generation can do,” said Lindberg. “They were a lot better than I was at their age. And Linn, I really like her game and her head, too. She's mentally strong, and I'll for sure be rooting to are her tomorrow.”
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