Tenacity, according to Anna Nordqvist
While the Solheim Cup was dominating the headlines, one piece of news was somewhat overlooked. European team captain Anna Nordqvist of Sweden announced before the competition that she would retire after the Solheim Cup. This let her focus fully on preparing for the showdown with the U.S. with a clear mind. As captain, she gave young French golfer Nastasia Nadaud her debut, and Nadaud impressed right away. Nordqvist is a highly decorated champion who has left her mark on world golf. So, where is Anna Nordqvist from? What has she achieved in golf? That’s what I’m interested in today.
Where are you from, Anna?
She was born on June 10, 1987, in Eskilstuna, a little west of Stockholm. Her family played golf, so she tried it when she was 10. She didn’t stick with it, saying she hated it. That didn’t stop her from playing as many as seven different sports during her youth. Her parents — a police officer and a pharmacist — were very supportive of all her athletic activities. She eventually returned to golf at 13. She explains that she liked golf because she could play by her own rules: she could practice whenever she wanted and decide how far she wanted to go.
His conquest of Sweden.
She returned to golf at age 13 and practiced with her brothers at the small Torshalla GK club. She trained year-round in all kinds of weather, even in the snow. The club supported its young players so they could compete in tournaments across the country. Anna Nordqvist improved very quickly. She became Sweden’s top junior in 2004 and 2005, then Sweden’s top amateur in 2005. That same year, she finished third at the European Championships.
In a way, she’ll be rewarded with the chance to practice with Swedish GOAT Annika Sorenstam. It’s one of her most cherished sports memories.
Her amateur successes continued: she was a finalist twice at the British Ladies Amateur, in 2006 and 2007, before winning the title in 2008.
Since she was already competing in international tournaments as an amateur, an American university — Arizona State — recruited her fairly quickly in the summer of 2006.
The U.S., to launch her professional career
Barely 18, Anna dives into the deep end of American college golf. She stays there for two and a half years, until 2008. Why Arizona State? Anna says it was because of the golf program, the great facilities, the weather, and a good coach. The program is clear. There, she meets Azahara Munoz, who would go on to play in the Solheim Cup.
Her first season (2006–07) is a breakout success. In her first tournament, she finishes tied for second. In eight tournaments, she earns one win and four runner-up finishes. In her victory, she sets a tournament record with a score of 10 under par. She is named Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. She finishes 17th at the NCAA Championship, the top finisher on her team.
In her second season (2007–08), she won the British Ladies Amateur. At the NCAA Championship, she tied for fifth. She earned another victory and finished first in the collegiate rankings.
Shortly afterward, in December 2008, she finished 25th in the LPGA qualifying tournament and turned professional.
His rich professional career
Having played professionally on the LPGA Tour, she will eventually make it her primary tour. As a European, she was wise to establish herself on this tour, which is far more lucrative than the European Tour.
She wasted no time: six months after turning professional, she won her first major, the LPGA Championship, by four strokes. She finished first at the Tour Championship (2009) at season’s end. She was named Rookie of the Year on the European Tour. She made her Solheim Cup debut as a captain’s pick. She first discovered the competition at age 16, when it was held in Sweden in 2003 (Barsebäck).
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What follows is a slump: at such a young age, it’s hard to process such a major victory. She doesn’t win again on the LPGA Tour between 2010 and 2013. The Solheim Cup gives her a chance to catch her breath. There, she makes a hole-in-one to win her foursomes match.
Then, after that rough patch, she won five times from 2014 to 2017. She became one of the best ball strikers on tour. Her dream of Olympic gold never came true, as she finished 11th. She lost the 2016 U.S. Open after being penalized for touching the sand in a bunker…
From 2017 to 2021, adversity remained, but a few magnificent victories punctuated it. The one that impressed me most, as a weekend warrior, was her win at the 2017 Evian Championship. After coming down with mononucleosis in July and being bedridden for 15 days, she won in a playoff in the rain and cold. It was her second major, eight years after her first.
For a European player, the breakthrough finally came in 2021 at Carnoustie. At 34, she wins her third major, spanning three different decades (the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s). She will be named Swedish Golfer of the Year in each of those decades.
Like all great champions, she has also had her dark years, particularly between 2023 and 2025. In 2023, while going through a divorce, her husband, Kevin McAlpine (a former caddie for Lexi Thompson), died suddenly. She took a break from her career to recover. In 2024, she missed the cut in 6 of 17 tournaments and said she was mentally exhausted. Despite these hardships, she remained loyal to the European team and, in 2023 and 2024, became the first vice-captain in Solheim Cup history.
The 2026 release
She decided to retire in 2026 without telling anyone. She announced it on August 26, before the Solheim Cup, and played her final tournament in Boston.
His game and his mentors
At 6 feet 0 inches tall, she is an exceptional ball striker, more consistent and accurate than powerful. She very often ranks among the LPGA’s top three in greens in regulation.
To illustrate her consistency from a young age, we have to go back to 2016. She was the first player to hit all 18 greens in regulation in a round of the U.S. Women’s Open.
Her irons are her strength. She sees her 3-wood and hybrid as offensive weapons: she won her first major in 2009 with a hybrid shot that landed just inches from the 18th hole.
Son swing est souvent cité en exemple par les coachs PGA : une grosse rotation, aucun balancement latéral malgré sa taille et une grande extension après l’impact.
All of this is the result of a long, Swedish-style development: she started late, at 13, and didn’t reach her full potential until she was 35. Her small club helped her develop her game and competitive spirit. Her coaches on the Swedish national team, Katarina Vandgal, Maria Bertilskod, and Annika Sorenstam, also helped a great deal. Together, they founded Team Annika, a program that helps young Swedish women make the transition from amateur golf to the professional tour. Nordqvist was its first member.
Finally, as with many success stories, her family played a major role — especially her grandfather. He first took Anna and her younger brothers to the golf course while their parents were at work. Anna describes him as her role model, her first supporter, and the most stubborn person she has ever known. She thinks she inherited that trait. Even after she moved to the United States, he kept sending her messages, telling her to keep her head up and never give up. That, in fact, is the defining characteristic of her career.
CONCLUSION
This great champion will have earned 9 LPGA victories, including 3 majors; 16 professional wins overall; played in 9 Solheim Cups (with a record of 17–15–3); captained a winning team once; and competed in 2 Olympic Games.
Her remarkable tenacity (“Never Give Up”) is ultimately the thread running through her career. After her first major in 2009, she realized she would need this mantra more than ever. In 2017, after being diagnosed with mononucleosis just nine weeks earlier, she won in a playoff in a hailstorm. After her victory at the British Open in 2021, she explained that she hates losing more than she loves winning. Finally, in November 2023, following Kevin McAlpine’s death, she returned to the tour, drawing strength from those words because, as a “fighter who never gives up,” she didn’t want to wait until February to play again.
Anna Nordqvist was a major champion, like Brooks Koepka, with three different major titles. That puts her among the top 30 players in women’s golf history. Compared with the men, she would be on a par with Padraig Harrington or Jordan Spieth, just behind Ernie Els (four majors).
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