Rookie Ingrid Lindblad holds off the field to win the LPGA's JM Eagle LA Championship

Los Angeles Times

21-04-2025

Ingrid Lindblad grew up figure skating. The dynamic sport of balance and precision tested her limits before she ultimately surrendered the ice for the green full-time.
The individuality, besting yourself rather than an opponent to achieve your goals, drove the Swedish golfer as a young athlete — and to top amateur status at Louisiana State. As one of two LPGA rookies atop the JM Eagle LA Championship leaderboard Sunday afternoon, Lindblad needed to channel her success, which propelled her to becoming the 2024 Honda Award winner for golf, the same under-pressure skillset that helped her qualify for the LPGA tour in the first place.
Lindblad, 25, converted six birdies Sunday, enough to weather the field and win the LA Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana — her first LPGA victory in her third career tour start. Lindblad, who missed out on the top 10 in her first two starts, charged into the conversation Friday with a career-low nine-under 63 to tie the tournament scoring record. She bookended the second round with four-under performances in the first and third rounds.
Lindblad was unaware of her first victory until cameras swarmed her as she nervously snacked in front of the clubhouse. Her shocked expression turned to glee as her mother, Cecilia, and peers celebrated her milestone moment.
Sunday's finale wasn't in her hands. Fellow rookie Akie Iwai missed a 13-foot putt on the 18th hole that would have forced a playoff after tying the score at 21-under with a 16th-hole birdie.
'You expect your opponent to make, make the chip, make the putt,' Lindblad said. 'She played really well this week too. I was expecting her to make it.'
Iwai, who played alongside her identical twin sister, Chisato, on Saturday, curved a last-chance shot from behind a tree to try and cut into the lead to set up her birdie putt.
'I saw Ingrid [was ahead],' said Akie Iwai, who finished 20-under as the runner-up. 'I must catch up… so I will give it a try. It was a really good shot.'
Earlier in the round, Iwai, who entered Sunday tied with Lindblad and tour veteran Lauren Coughlin at 17-under, stalled after her sixth-hole bogey.
Lindblad also lost steam, settling for par on every hole after the 11th. But she found a lucky touch to maintain her lead. On the eighth hole, after driving the ball into the rough — a sand patch near a fan viewing zone — Lindblad skipped a ball about 50 yards onto the green to create a short putt opportunity.
She sank the birdie, her fifth of the day, to place her at 20 under and a two-stroke lead with 10 holes remaining.
Even when her drives left plenty to be desired, struggling to find the fairway on multiple holes, Lindblad would save par to keep distance between second place. Lindblad sliced a ball on the 13th hole that sailed far wide and off a tree.
'I was not always friends with my driver,' Lindblad said.
The ball, however, ricocheted off the tree and toward the fairway rather than out of bounds. Lindblad eventually made par.
The 10th hole — a par four — appeared to be a potential bogey after Lindblad left the ball short of the putting green and into a bunker on her second shot. But after a nifty chip, she was able to keep par with a 15-foot putt.
It was shots such as her 10th-hole sand save that was proof that it may be Lindblad's day in Tarzana.
'I know my sand saves aren't the greatest percentage this year so far,' Lindblad said. 'Making that up and down on both [the second hole] from the bunker and on 10 from the bunker, I was just happy to make par.'
Lindblad outpaced attempts to cut into her lead from the top-two ranked women's golfers. Nelly Korda, No. 1 in the world, began the day tied for third and finished at 14 under. Just below Korda in the rankings, Jeeno Thitikul made a run toward the top of the standings by birdieing her first four holes, but ultimately settled in a tie for ninth place going 16 under.
Australian Hannah Green, who won the last two LA Championships, finished ninth as well. She donated $1,000 per eagle and $500 per birdie for Los Angeles fire relief efforts. Green will donate $10,500 after she added six birdies to her tally Sunday.
'I did a little bit of a tally last night,' Green said of her donations. 'I was hoping that it was going to be a course where we make a ton [of eagles and birdies], and obviously it has been. … I'm grateful that I did make the amount that I did.'
Coughlin, who was part of the first-place tie to start Sunday, ended the LA Championship tied for third at 19 under with Esther Henseleit and Miyu Yamashita.
The LA Championship, which is usually held at Wilshire Country Club, moved to El Caballero in 2025 because of course renovations at Wilshire. The LPGA tour plans to return to Wilshire next season.
With the the Chevron Championship — the first LPGA major of the year — coming next week, Lindblad said it may be time to reassess her rookie-season goals after her first tour win. And with the $562,500 in prize money now to her name, she quipped only one thing was on her mind.
'I said, if I win, I'm gonna bump myself up to first class tomorrow,' Lindblad said she joked Saturday. 'But there are no seats in first class tomorrow.'
Lindblad may still be thinking about first class, but after Sunday she'll need to check an extra bag for her LA Championship silver trophy.