'There Was A Lot Said About Us Having Different Tees But Ultimately You Still Had To Hit The Shots'

Sweden’s Linn Grant has been rapidly rising up the Women’s World Golf Rankings. 

The 24-year old made the headlines in 2022 when she became the DP World Tour’s first female winner. Her landmark victory in the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed - a ground-breaking new event where professionals from the respective men’s and women’s tours compete alongside each other for the same trophy and title but from different teeing grounds - wasn’t just a win.

She stormed the field with a decisive nine-stroke victory.

“To be honest, the significance of it still hasn’t sunk in,” admits Grant.

“Obviously it was a huge personal win, massive, but I don’t think I realised how many eyes were on me that week. I think that as players we all know our best games, how good we could be, and it’s just about being on your best game to win. I felt comfortable with my game all week, in fact all year.”

The much publicized victory was the culmination of a sensational start to Grant’s rookie year, having secured tour cards for the LPGA and LET at the start of 2022 and deciding to split her time between both.

In a little under two years she has won a remarkable 11 times, including her first three events on the bounce in 2022, what’s known as the South African swing - the dream start to her professional career.

There was absolutely no doubt who would win the 2022 Rookie of the Year
Award - Grant’s name was rightly etched on that trophy. But to add to that she also won the LET Order of Merit, the Sunshine Ladies Tour Order of Merit, was named Swedish Golfer of the year and LET Player of the year.

Yet out of all of her victories it is the one against the men in the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed that has attracted the most press. It was somewhat scarred by the media, whose headline stories talked about the inequality of the teeing grounds, suggesting it gave the big-hitting Swede an advantage over her male counterparts. 

“There was a lot said about us having different tees but ultimately you still had to hit the shots,” she points out.

“It’s tough to set up a tournament like that so that it’s totally fair. I’d love to see more dual events between the men’s and women’s tour. I think it’s fun to watch because you get to see how differently we play the same course.

"Plus there are obvious advantages of sharing set-up costs for the two tours, and from the women’s perspective we’ve got the ready-made crowds there, which we sometimes lack, so it makes sense.

"More than anything else it’s just fun to do something different.”