Annika Sörenstam predicts great things for Minea Blomqvist

Top female pro in Finland for exhibition match

Annika Sörenstam

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Finland’s latest golfing phenomenon Minea Blomqvist, 19, received a strong vote of confidence yesterday from one of her peers - the sport’s superstar Annika Sörenstam of Sweden. Sörenstam was in Finland for an exhibition match with Blomqvist on the Finn’s home course in Porvoo.
      The 33-year-old Swede, who has seven major wins on the LPGA Tour to her credit and is generally regarded as the finest woman golfer in the world, was unstinting in her praise for the Finnish youngster.
      "Minea is a fantastic and extremely gifted player, with a great future ahead of her. She’s already proved that. Her attitude has made an impression on me. Her technique is good and she is long off the tee. On the basis of what I have seen so far, the area where she needs to work most is in her short game around the greens", said Sörenstam on the clubhouse terrace at Kullo Golf Club after the pair played an exhibition round in front of a sizeable crowd.
     
Blomqvist and Sörenstam arrived  fresh from their appearances in the Weetabix British Open over the weekend. Blomqvist finished 8th in the event, thanks in great measure to an astonishing 3rd round of 62 which rewrote the women’s golf statistics as the lowest score ever recorded in a women’s major tournament.
      The Kullo course was somewhat damp after the recent rains, but it did not hinder the Swede, who comfortably beat her host 3 and 2 in their 10-hole matchplay encounter. This restored the balance somewhat after the Swede found herself two shots adrift of Blomqvist in the British Open. Still, Sörenstam has already won the event, and was the defending champion this year.
     
Minea Blomqvist’s rookie season  in the pros has gone extremely well, but all the media attention surrounding her recent performance at Sunningdale has not changed her plans or her schedule. She will be playing in her next European Tour event this weekend in Stockholm, and intends later this year to try to secure a card for the lucrative US LPGA circuit. Even if she does not manage to qualify for the US tour, her achievements this season guarantee her entry to the European tour for the next two years.
      She seemed relaxed yesterday, despite having slept very little after the British Open and despite playing head-to-head with a woman whom she admits has always been her role-model in the sport.
      "Annika is physically in much better shape than I am, and she is better than me in many of the shots in her repertoire. She’s naturally also a lot more experienced, but that’s an area where I can only improve", said the Finnish teenager.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Minea Blomqvist rewrites golf history at British Open (3.8.2004)

Links:
  Annika Sörenstam (PGA Tour pages)
  Annika Sörenstam (LPGA.com)

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