By Sean Fawcett
and Will Prata
Most golfers can’t even dream of making nine birdies and an eagle in one round of golf. Well, maybe they can dream, but that’s all they can do.
Sweden’s Linnea Strom, however, can do more than dream of shooting that low; she can now remember doing it after firing a new course record in an amazing Sunday final round comeback to win the 2024 ShopRite LPGA Classic, Presented by Acer at Seaview’s historic 1914 Links.
Battling the traditional elements of heat and wind on the Hugh Wilson and Donald Ross designed Bay Course, Strom carded rounds of 69 and 70 to make the cut by a stroke. She drove straight past all her competition with the closing 60, finishing with a 6-foot putt on 18 to raise the Acer crystal trophy up high.
Japan’s Ayaka Furue shot 65 to get to within one of Strom at -13, along with America’s Megan Khang. Atthaya Thitikul and Morgane Metraux finished fourth and fifth respectively with rounds of 69, 67, and 65; and 68, 68, and 66.
Strom made a crucial and pressure-packed 12-foot putt on Seaview’s 18th on Saturday just to make the final round, and then told herself to just enjoy Sunday’s stroll around the iconic Bay Course and make as many birdies as she could.
“I wanted to keep my eye on it,” Strom said. “I tried telling myself to mentally prepare for a playoff. I wanted to do as good as I could have, but it’s hard to know when you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Meanwhile, two of the higher ranked players in the field, No. 16 Khang and No. 22 Furue, both LPGA Tour winners, seemed to have the best chance to equal or surpass Strom’s score.
Khang, seeking her second LPGA Tour victory, carded five threes on the first six holes of her back nine and reached 14-under by sinking a 6-foot birdie putt at the long, uphill par-3 15th.
Furue put the pressure on by pouring in her sixth birdie in her first 13 holes to get to 13-under. Unable to card another birdie on the way in from there, Furue’s last chance to tie Strom was sunk with a bad chip for her third shot and a missed 18-foot putt at 18.
Strom’s nine birdies and eagle added up to a winning, and almost unbelievable 11-under-par 60, the lowest round ever recorded in the 36-year history of the Jersey Shore event, and her first career LPGA Tour victory. First-round leader Arpichava Yubol tied the course record, 61 (-10) in Friday’s first round.
Sunday’s victory was an epic one for Strom, who had missed five of her previous six cuts going into ShopRite Week in Galloway. She had also previously lost her LPGA card and joined the Epson Tour in 2022.
Strom said she went to the 18th tee not realizing she was an eagle away from a 59. The LPGA record for 18 holes would have matched the all-time 18-hole record of fellow Swede, and Strom’s hero, World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam.
“I knew I had a good score going but I didn’t think I was that close to 59,” she said. “So obviously (it was) unfortunate that I wasn’t able to hit the green in two. But it is what it is and I did my best and I was happy I was able to make a birdie on that hole.”
Well done Linnea, and see you in 2025.
Photo by William Prata
