Linn Grant shot a final-round 68 to claim her first LPGA Tour trophy at the Dana Open.
After a third-round 62, Grant entered Sunday’s finale in Ohio holding a six-shot lead. The 24-year-old Swede made seven-consecutive pars out of the gate, but finally went into the red with a chip-in birdie on the par-3 eighth. She maintained a six-shot advantage at the turn but newly-minted U.S. Women’s Open champ Allisen Corpuz (65) reeled off four birdies down the stretch to card 65 and close the gap to a deuce.
Grant, though, held her nerve and made birdie on the par-5 18th to finish on 21-under 263, three shots clear of Corpuz.
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it all day. I think I’ve imagined this day so many times in so many ways in my own mind,” said Grant of her first LPGA win.
“No, just being here now, I’m just so speechless and at the same time I feel familiar with the setting for some reason. But it’s just so fun.”
Grant is a five-time winner on the Ladies European Tour (LET), which included an historic nine-shot victory against a field of men and women at the 2022 Scandinavian Mixed tournament, co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour. Despite being one of the most talented golfers in the world during this time, she was not allowed to play on U.S. soil due to the Biden Administration’s draconian COVID-19 vaccine mandate policy which began in 2021. (The policy was finally dropped in May and Grant remains unvaccinated.)
Lindy Duncan posted 65 to finish alone in third on 15 under, one shot clear of Xiyu Janet Lin (67) and Stephanie Kyriacou (69), who rounded out the top-5 leaders.
