PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Anna Nordqvist is playing golf again – and considering the circumstances, she is doing it almost unimaginably well. The Swede is fourth in the LPGA tour’s final competition in Florida.
Barely a month ago withdrew Anna Nordqvist out of a competition in South Korea after the news that the ex-husband Kevin McAlpinefrom whom she divorced during the year, had passed away.
Last week she competed again and this week, 36-year-old Nordqvist also plays the tour finale in Naples, Florida, before she plans to take an extended break.
– I’m a fighter and never give up, I didn’t want to wait until February before I picked myself up again. I felt like I needed to get back to work. You have to start somewhere, she says according to the LPGA tour.
“Thought I was going to pass out”
At the same time, Nordqvist tells how bad she feels and how tough the fight is to be able to play golf at all right now. In a lesson with her coach before returning to the tour, she managed to hit three balls before it felt like she couldn’t breathe.
– Two days earlier I tried to hit a little and my head was spinning so much that I thought I was going to pass out, so I had to stop training. That I managed to play four rounds last week, that made me proud and it felt like a victory just to cheer up.
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For Nordqvist, who lives in Arizona, it has also meant a lot to see friends and colleagues on the LPGA tour again.
– Tough things definitely put golf in a different perspective. I am lucky to be here. Everyone has been so supportive and shown so much love.
Eight birdies
This week’s tour final, where the top 60 in the “Race to CME Globe” participate, has started brilliantly for Anna Nordqvist. 65 strokes, after eight birdies and only one bogey, gives her fourth place after the first round of the competition where the winner collects a prize check of 2 million dollars (around 20 million kroner). Nordqvist is two strokes behind the leading duo: the Japanese Nasa Hataoka and the Chinese Yin Ruoning.
Linnea Strom and Madelene Sagström started both with 68 strokes. Lynn Grant got off to a nightmare start and was +4 after two holes, but clawed his way back and finished the day on 69. Maja Stark went around in 73 strokes and is far down in the results list.
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