Ingrid Lindblad, a five-year player at LSU, has proven to be a quick study as a pro. The 25-year-old earned her LPGA card after making only nine starts on the Epson Tour and has now won on the LPGA in only the third start of her rookie season at the JM Eagle LA Championship. She earned a $562,500 paycheck for her efforts.
“I mean, you should never not expect it, right?” she said. “But obviously got it done in a couple starts. Just kind of crazy.”
Sweden’s Lindblad held off another talented rookie, Akie Iwai, by one stroke at El Caballero Country Club, closing with a 4-under 68 to finish at 21 under for the tournament. Three players finished two shots back, including Lauren Coughlin, Esther Henseleit and another rookie, Miyu Yamashita.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda closed with an even-par 72, hitting it in the water on the final hole, to take a share of 16th.
When Lindblad first visited LSU, coaches asked “How good do you want to be?”
No. 1 in the world, she replied.
Lindblad won 15 times as a Tiger and spent more than 50 weeks atop the World Amateur Golf Ranking. She won the 2024 Ping WGCA Player of the Year title, the 2024 Annika Award and the 2024 Juli Inkster Award.
When asked about her expectations for her rookie season, Lindblad told Golfweek last fall: “I don’t think winning is that kind of a crazy goal.”
Of course, winning takes a little good fortune sometimes, too. An errant drive on the 13th hit a tree and bounced back in the fairway. As the round wore on, Lindblad’s drives only grew straighter.
“I don’t know the camera guy up there, but he was like, there is a little squirrel up there who was nice to you and bumped it out on the fairway,” she said, with a smile.
Coughlin had a chance down the stretch but fired a rare miscue with a short iron into the bunker on the final hole to close with bogey. The 2025 Solheim Cup player wasn’t a bit surprised by Lindblad’s strong play.
“I played in the third round last year at Portland with Ingrid, and I mean, you could tell that she’s super talented and very, very good at what she does,” said Coughlin. She just needed to clean up a couple things, so I’m really happy for her.
“She was a top ranked amateur for a really long time in college golf.”
Lindblad becomes the second rookie to win this season, joining Rio Takeda, who won the Blue Bay LPGA. Lindblad follows in the footsteps of her idol, Annika Sorenstam, who won the Office Depot Championship in 2003 and 2004 at El Caballero.
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