Outdoors & Sports
Fore! 3 Famous Swedish Golfers
It’s been a good year for Swedish golfers.
Henrik Stenson, the world’s No. 5 player, captured his first major and took home the silver medal at the Rio Olympics. Fellow Swedes Alex Noren (No. 28), David Lingmerth (56) and Rikard Karlberg (82) currently rank in the Top 100 in the world – Noren has jumped from No. 96 in the world on the strength of six wins this year on the European Tour. And on the women’s side, Anna Nordqvist finished second at the U.S. Women’s Open and currently ranks No. 13 in the world.
Today we take a look at three of the most famous Swedish golfers.
Henrik Stenson
In one of the season’s highlights, Stenson went toe-to-toe with American Phil Mickelson at the British Open, ultimately winning the first major of his career. He has been ranked for more than 100 weeks in the World Top 10, and his career high ranking of No. 2 is the best by any Swedish player to date. In 2016, he has four Top-10 finishes in 14 PGA Tour events and five Top-10 finishes in six European Tour stops. In short, he’s one of golf’s best.
Annika Sörenstam
Sörenstam easily is the greatest female golfer of her generation and is considered by some as the greatest female golfer of all time. Her statistics are staggering: 72 LPGA tourney wins (89 tourney wins if you include other tours), 10 major titles and career earnings of more than $22.5 million (No. 1 all-time). She was named Player of the Year a record eight times and was the Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year for three straight years (2003-05) – she joined golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias and tennis player Maureen Connolly as the only female athletes to claim the
AP honor three straight years. The only female golfer in the world to shoot an impressive 59 in a tournament, Sörenstam also became the first woman to play an event on the PGA Tour in nearly 60 years when she played in a tour event in 2003.
Jesper Parnevik
Parnevik is ranked in the Top 10 in the world for 38 weeks in 2000 and 2001 – he ranked as high as No. 7, which was the best for any Swedish golfer until Stenson topped that in 2007. He joined the PGA Tour in the 1990s and won five events; he finished second in the British Open on two occasions and fifth in the PGA Championship in 1996. Parnevik also had three appearances in the Ryder Cup. These days, he plays on the Champions Tour and has starred in a Swedish reality show, “Parneviks.”
