Sara Eklund (born 31 July 1974) is a retired Swedish professional golfer. She won the 1995 Rörstrand Ladies Open as an amateur and played on the Ladies European Tour six seasons, 1997–2002.

Sara Eklund
Personal information
Born (1974-07-31) 31 July 1974 (age 50)
Kristianstad, Sweden
Sporting nationality Sweden
ResidenceÅhus, Sweden
Career
Turned professional1997
Former tour(s)Ladies European Tour (joined 1997)
Swedish Golf Tour
Professional wins3
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipDNP
Women's PGA C'shipDNP
U.S. Women's OpenDNP
du Maurier ClassicDNP
Women's British OpenCUT: 2001, 2002

Amateur career

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Eklund played on the Swedish Golf Tour as an amateur 1993–1996 and won the Rörstrand Ladies Open in 1995. She was selected for the National Team and represented Sweden at the 1995 European Ladies' Team Championship in Italy where her team finished 7th under captain Pia Nilsson, and at the 1996 Espirito Santo Trophy at St Elena in the Philippines where she finished 7th together with Anna Berg and Mia Löjdahl.[1]

Professional career

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Eklund turned professional and joined the Ladies European Tour (LET) in 1997. On the LET, she kept her card by comfortably finishing in the top 90 on the Order of Merit each year between 1999 and 2003, peaking at 38th in 2000.[2] Her best LET finish is T11, which she reached at the Ladies French Open and Ladies Hannover Expo 2000 Open in 1999 and at the Compaq Open in 2000.[3] She repeated the T11 at the Compaq Open again in 2001, this time along Maria Hjorth, Laura Davies and Juli Inkster.[4]

Eklund shared the lead at the 2000 Chrysler Open together with Corinne Dibnah, eventually finishing T30.[5] She also led the 2000 Dutch Ladies Open after an opening round of 66, went head to head with Laura Davies in the second round, but had to settle for T29 after a final round of 82.[6] She finished T7 at the Malaysia JAL Ladies Open on the 1998 Ladies Asian Golf Tour, and was runner-up at the 2000 Ladies Finnish Open.[7]

Her two appearances in LPGA majors were at the 2001 Women's British Open at Sunningdale Golf Club and 2002 Women's British Open at Turnberry.[3]

Professional wins (3)

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Swedish Golf Tour wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning
score
To par Margin of
victory
Runner-up Ref
1 21 May 1995 Rörstrand Ladies Open (as an amateur) 77-78-67=222 +9 1 stroke   Åsa Gottmo
  Riikka Hakkarainen
[8]
2 12 Sep 1999 LB Data Ladies Open 72-72-68=212 −4 1 stroke   Linda Ericsson
  Susanna Gustafsson
[9]
3 9 Sep 2001 Telia Ladies Finale 70-70-70=210 −6 10 strokes   Pernilla Sterner [10]

Source:[3]

Results in LPGA majors

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Tournament 2001 2002
Women's British Open CUT CUT

Note: Eklund only played in the Women's British Open.
CUT = missed the half-way cut

Team appearances

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Amateur

Source:[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den Stora Sporten' [Golf - the Great Sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. ISBN 91-86818007. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  2. ^ "LET Order of Merit". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "Sara Eklund Player Profile". Golfdata. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Golf Results". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Sara Eklund and Corrine Dibnah lead the Chrysler Open in Sweden". GolfMagic. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Davies keeps pressure on Swede". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  7. ^ "1998 Malaysia JAL Ladies Open". Golfdata. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  8. ^ "1995 Rörstrand Ladies Open". Golfdata. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  9. ^ "1999 LB Data Ladies Open". Golfdata. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  10. ^ "2001 Telia Ladies Finale". Golfdata. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
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