This former No. 1 amateur makes her LPGA rookie debut at Founders Cup
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Ingrid Lindblad, one of the winningest players in college golf history, makes her debut as an LPGA member at this week's LPGA Founders Cup, and the expectations are high.
'I don't think winning is that kind of a crazy goal,' said Lindblad of her 2025 rookie season.
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 at LSU 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.
"One of her superpowers, if you will, is her ability to do the little things to get to the big goals," said longtime LSU assistant coach Alexis Rather.
"I think she's an incredibly process-oriented person. She knows her game, knows what she needs to do to get where she wants to go."
There are 21 rookies on the LPGA this season, hailing from 12 different countries. While Lindblad will no doubt want to make a run at Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors, she'll have her work cut out as five members of this year's rookie class are already ranked in the top 50 of the Rolex Rankings.
Many in this year's rookie class will debut at the LPGA Founders Cup, played Feb. 6-9 at Bradenton Country Club in Florida.
At 24 years old, LSU's Lindblad comes to the LPGA with a boatload of experience, having played five years of college golf along with six years of major championship experience. She knows what it's like to hold the spotlight at Augusta National and the U.S. Women's Open, having held a share of the early lead at the latter three years ago.
Lindblad's opening 65 at the 2022 Women's Open at Pine Needles, playing alongside Annika Sorenstam, set an amateur record for the championship. Sorenstam called her fearless.
Lindblad ultimately tied for 11th, earning low amateur honors.
The decision to come back to school for a fifth season surprised many, but there were goals Lindblad still wanted to pursue. It was another year of maturity, and another year of team golf, two things that carried great value to the Swede. The LPGA was an inevitability, and veteran players like Anna Nordqvist told her not to stress, the tour would be there when she was ready.
Lindblad joined the Epson Tour last summer midseason and managed to earn her card in only nine starts. She finished sixth on the Epson Tour's Race for the Card on the strength of a victory at the Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic and two runner-up showings.
The start, however, wasn't exactly smooth.
She missed the cut in her first event on the developmental circuit as a pro and spent two hours on the range that Sunday with her swing coach, who happened to be caddying, searching for answers.
'I would either shut the face and it went straight left, or it was kind of high right with no power – especially with the driver,' said Lindblad of those mid-year struggles.
With the help of a water bottle as her guide, Lindblad made some adjustments and found immediate improvement.
That emergency lesson ended up being one of the best of the year, and a rain-shortened event at her third stop gave her a rare opportunity to sleep in. The extra rest helped propel her to a share of second and she never looked back.
Lindblad will have a large contingent of supporters in her first year on the LPGA, with her childhood swing coach, Thomas Lindstrom, and putting coach, Peter Franzen, hailing from her home club in Sweden. She can also call on the national team coaches who have been by her side for years as well as her college coaches, Garrett Runion and Rather. Scott Leonard will continue to be her caddie.
During off weeks in the U.S., she'll head back to Baton Rouge to reset in a place that's familiar.
"She's gained a lot of perspective on how difficult the game can be – the ups and downs that you kind of go through – and has gotten better at looking at the big picture," said Rather.
"She has the potential to have a really long career out there ... I think she's ready, and her game is ready, for the biggest stage in women's in golf."
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