Sophie Gustafson (born
December 27, 1973) is a Swedish
professional golfer.
She is a
member of U.S.
based
LPGA Tour and a life member of the
Ladies European Tour.
She has four LPGA and 22 international wins in her career. She is a
two time
LET Order of Merit
winner and has represented Europe in the
Solheim Cup in each match since 1998.
Professional career
Sophie Gustafson turned professional in 1992 whilst studying
marketing, economics and law at Aranasskolan & Komvux
University in Sweden. In the next three years she played 12 Telia
Tour and four Ladies European Tour tournaments. On the Telia tour
she had six top ten finishes. Her best finish on the
LET was a 22nd at her home tournament
in Sweden.
1995 saw her join the
Ladies
European Tour gaining two top 10 finishes in 13 starts. 1996
was her first full year on the Ladies European Tour. She gained her
first professional wins, winning once on the Telia Tour at the
Rörstrand Ladies Open and once on the Ladies European Tour at the
Déesse Ladies Swiss Open. In 1997 she earned her first win on the
Ladies Asian Tour at the Thailand Ladies Open and finished T40th at
LPGA Q School to earn non-exempt status for 1998.
In 1998 Gustafson won twice on the LET at the
Donegal Irish Ladies' Open and at the
Marrakech Palmeraie Open, finish second on the Order of Merit and
was voted Waterford Players' Player of the Year. She also played
four times on the LPGA tour, recording a second place finish at the
co-sanctioned Women’s British Open. She also won the Telia Tour
Finale and made her debut in the
Solheim
Cup, replacing the injured
Trish
Johnson at the last minute. During 1999, Gustafson played on
both the LPGA and LET Tours. Her best result was a tie for 2nd at
the Ladies' German Open on the LET Tour.
2000 was a breakthrough year for Gustafson. She got her maiden win
on the LPGA at the
Chick-fil-A Charity
Championship, and added a second LPGA title at the
co-sanctioned Women’s British Open. She had two other wins in
Europe at the Ladies Italian Open and at the
Waterford Crystal Ladies Irish Open and
partnered with Carin Koch to win the inaugural TSN Ladies World Cup
Golf. She also won 2 and a half out of a possible four points in
Europe's Solheim Cup victory at Loch Lomond. The year ended with
Gustafson topping the Evian Order of Merit and official Evian
moneylist, being voted Swedish Player of the Year by the
Association of Swedish Golf Writers and becoming Players' Player of
Year'.
In 2001 Gustafson won once on both the LPGA Tour at the Subaru
Memorial of Naples and LET Tour at the Australian Open crossing the
LPGA Tour career $1million earnings mark. The defence of her LPGA
title ended with her losing in a playoff to
Annika Sörenstam. In 2002 she played
seven LET events, posting four top 10 finishes, ending the season
with one victory at the Biarritz Ladies Classic and 3rd place in
the Order of Merit as well as winning the Vivien Saunders Stroke
average trophy. She made 15 of 20 cuts on the LPGA, with her best
finish an 11th.
In 2003 she won three out of eight LET events and secured another
LET Order of Merit title. She also won her third LET Players'
Player of the Year award and the Vivien Saunders Stroke Average
trophy. She won the Samsung World Championship on the LPGA tour,
her 4th LPGA win, crossing the $2million LPGA Tour career earnings
mark.
She
became the first woman to compete in a men's Japan Golf Tour event.
and was part of the winning European Solheim Cup team in her native Sweden.
During 2004 Gustafson struggled with illness due to
deep vein thrombosis in her leg. Her
best finish of the year was a tie for third on the LPGA tour where
she led the tour in driving distance at 270.2 yards. At the start
of 2005, Gustafson represented Sweden with
Carin Koch in the 2005 Women's World Cup of Golf
in SA. Three LET events in 2005 yielded a second place finish at
the Weetabix Women's British Open and 3rd place on the LET Money
List. On the LPGA Tour she had seven top 10 finishes and tied her
career low round of 64 at the
Wendy's Championship for
Children. Gustafson made her 5th appearance in the
Solheim Cup. and was a member of the
International Team in the inaugural
Lexus
Cup.
In 2006
Gustafson played in just three LET events but finished fourth on
the New Star Money List after claiming her first victory in almost
three years at the Siemens Ladies Golf Open at Golfclub Fohrenwald
in Wiener
Neustadt
in
Austria. This win gave her the point she needed to become a
Life Member of the LET. She earned her thirteenth LET win in 2007
at the
De Vere Ladies
Scottish Open.
Gustafson was a member of Europe's
Solheim
Cup team in
1998,
2000,
2002,
2003,
2005 and
2007. Gustafson is married to former LPGA
commissioner
Ty Votaw, who left his post
following the 2005 Solheim Cup.
Professional wins (23)
LPGA Tour (5)
Note: The Women's British Open did not become an LPGA major until
2001
Ladies European Tour (13)
Notes:
1: Gustafson Women's British Open win is also listed in the LPGA
Tour section as it was co-sanctioned by the two tours.
Other (5)
- 1996 (1) Rörstrand Ladies Open (Telia Tour)
- 1997 (1) Thailand Open (Ladies Asian Tour)
- 1998 (1) Telia Ladies Finale (Telia Tour), Praia d'El Rey
European Cup (team event)
- 1999 (1) Praia d'El Rey European Cup (Ladies European Tour team
event)
- 2000 (1) TSN Ladies World Cup Golf (team event)
Results in LPGA majors
^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an
LPGA major in 2001.
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
LPGA Tour record
| Year |
# events |
Cuts
made
|
Wins |
2nds |
3rds |
Top
10s
|
Best
finish
|
Earnings ($) |
Rank |
Scoring
average
|
| 1994 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
T75 |
612 |
N/A |
77.25 |
| 1995 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
MC |
N/A |
N/A |
82.00 |
| 1996 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
MC |
N/A |
N/A |
75.00 |
| 1997 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
30,154 |
N/A |
72.50 |
| 1998 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
T12 |
81,915 |
83 |
74.58 |
| 1999 |
21 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
T6 |
80,800 |
96 |
73.27 |
| 2000 |
21 |
18 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
544,390 |
13 |
71.93 |
| 2001 |
25 |
23 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
1 |
617,327 |
15 |
71.55 |
| 2002 |
20 |
15 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
T11 |
165,093 |
57 |
72.4 |
| 2003 |
22 |
17 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
635,372 |
18 |
71.11 |
| 2004 |
21 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
T3 |
167,843 |
65 |
73.48 |
| 2005 |
26 |
21 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
484,839 |
28 |
72.59 |
| 2006 |
25 |
21 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
T2 |
655,548 |
17 |
71.57 |
| 2007 |
19 |
16 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
T2 |
469,748 |
30 |
71.84 |
| 2008 |
23 |
17 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
T2 |
646,303 |
28 |
71.85 |
| 2009 |
18 |
13 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
719,269 |
14 |
71.41 |
- Official as of October 5, 2009.
Solheim Cup record
Notes and References
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