Anna Nordqvist

“Never give up”

Champion at Carnoustie last year, Anna Nordqvist is a player whose can-do attitude works wonders

Words: Brian Keogh

Anna Nordqvist stands out in any crowd and, while remaining a reluctant LPGA star, her fighting spirit and love of the Majors shines through. When the Swede won the AIG Women’s Open at Carnoustie last year she suddenly had three Majors on her CV as well as four Solheim Cup wins from seven appearances and 12 professional victories. And yet she remains self-effacing and low-key (even though her first triumph came in only her fifth start on the LPGA Tour).

It was no ordinary win either, but a Major victory – the 2009 McDonald’s LPGA Championship.

Nordqvist would go on to win the LPGA Tour Championship later that year, but it would be another five years before she won again.

“Things in life have never come easy for me,” she told the LPGA Tour last year before that one-shot win over Georgia Hall, Madelene Sagström and Lizette Salas at Carnoustie.

“I wasn’t the smartest girl in class, nor the most talented athlete. It’s funny to say that now as a two-time Major Champion, but that’s because I worked at it. Whatever I felt I lacked in talent, I made up for in hard work. When I put in the time, the success came, both in school and in sports. There’s never been any other way than to work extremely hard and put my full heart into overcoming challenges. And there have been plenty of challenges.

“I didn’t start playing golf until I was 13 years old. That, in and of itself, is a hurdle when it comes to competing on the LPGA Tour. By that age, Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson were already competing in Majors. I was still learning the game.

“My grandfather would take my two brothers and me to the golf course to practice. We would spend time with him rather than going to daycare when our parents were at work. Those were some of my favourite memories, spending time with

Anna Nordqvist hits from the 10th fairway during this year’s US Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge, North Carolina

“My younger brother, Mattias, came out to caddy for me one summer. It changed my life.”

Early success: Nordqvist at the Espirito Santo Trophy in 2008 (above); emotions come to the fore at the Evian Championship of 2017 (right)

Grandpa. He was always my biggest role model. He was also the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. I probably inherited that trait from him. He was my biggest cheerleader, always sending me little messages of encouragement, telling me to keep fighting. To never give up.”

Nordqvist has been a fighter for her entire career, taking four years to make the Swedish national team.

But she soon found her stride, winning the 2008 European Ladies’ Team Championship and the 2008 World Amateur Team Championships for the Espirito Santo Trophy, where she finished individual runner-up to future Solheim Cup teammate Caroline Hedwall. She also triumphed at The Women’s Amateur Championship that year (adding to her runner-up finishes the previous two years).

In her first season at Arizona State University, she was crowned Pac-10 co-champion and the National Golf Coaches Association’s Freshman of the Year, Pac-10 Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, going on to win her LPGA Tour card at the Q-School in 2008.

“My coach didn’t think it was the right decision, but I knew I had to follow my heart,” she said of her choice to turn professional midway through her Junior year.

“I had to learn that it was OK to say ‘no’, to have my own opinion and make my own decisions. I feel like I’m a strong person. I know what I want, and I think I’ve learned how to be that person.”

Within a year, she had two LPGA Tour wins, including a Major. “It was an incredible start to my professional career,” she said. “But I soon found that I was going to need Grandpa’s advice to never give up, now more than ever.”

Unprepared for tour life, it was five years before she won again on the LPGA Tour and eight years before she captured her second Major by securing the 2017 Amundi Evian Championship despite suffering from mononucleosis (mono).

“Those were long, hard years,” she confessed. “There were times I thought about quitting. I lost my motivation and inspiration for the game. My younger brother, Mattias, came out to caddy for me one summer. It changed my life.”

Rolling in the winning putt at Carnoustie

She was in contention for the US Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge in North Carolina in June, eventually finishing tied for sixth with England’s Bronte Law

That Major win came in a season that proved to be the toughest she had ever faced.

“I was exhausted and had no idea why,” she recalled. “For months, I had been struggling with the illness that is known for creating debilitating fatigue. Here I was, travelling the world, trying to compete at the highest level, but I was sick. I didn’t have the energy that I used to.”

Nordqvist didn’t win again until last year’s AIG Women’s Open triumph and she admitted she spent most of the time in between struggling physically.

“The hardest part was basically losing my mental endurance and my physical endurance,” she said. “It took about three years to get over mono, and I think last year during Covid I finally had some time to be at home and slow down. My life has always gone at 110 miles an hour.”

Winning made all the suffering worthwhile and that success at Carnoustie last year is now her most cherished victory.

“I think this is the most special one,” she said, minutes after her win in Scotland. “Just because it’s taken me a couple of years and I’ve fought so hard and questioned whether I was doing the right things.

“There’s just something about golf that keeps driving me. I hate losing probably more than I like winning. I think all the controversy and all the downs, and having my caddie and husband there pushing me every day being a rock; I hate to give up.”

She was in contention for the US Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge in North Carolina in June, eventually finishing tied for sixth with England’s Bronte Law, nine shots behind the champion, Minjee Lee.

Nordqvist admitted during that week how much the Majors appeal to her fighting spirit. “I can dream of things,” she said. “The feeling when you win a Major, there’s just nothing else that can describe it.”