Sweden’s Andrea Lignell fired a phenomenal first round of 64 (-9) to lead after the first day of the Swedish Strokeplay Championship at Golf Uppsala Soderby.
Lignell, who started on 11, fired a flawless round of nine birdies, her career best, to secure a three-shot lead heading into the second round.
Speaking about her day, Lignell said: “Honestly, I’m not sure where it came from, I’ve really been struggling and talking to people in my team about rather than forcing good results, which I might have been doing a bit too much late, about letting the results come to you.
“I would say it was solid overall but my putting was really the key today to shoot a low score. I have been struggling from the tee and making high numbers, so it really helped me today being steady from tee to green, which puts a bit less pressure on the putting.”
Lignell has had a difficult start to the 2025 season and missed the cut last week at the PGA of Sweden Championship. Now she’s found her game again.
“If I’m being totally honest, I wasn’t motivated at all after missing the cut last week and I had to talk to some people in my team about a game plan moving forward.
“I got to go see my coach for a short time in between last week and this week and we just tried a small little change that really made a difference, I think.”
Lignell, who reached a career-best of 18th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking turned professional last year and finished 11th on the LETAS Order of Merit rankings.
The 24-year-old has five top 10 finishes this season and plays out of Hills Golf Club, who are hosting an LET event later this season. Lignell is an invitee.
“I would like to take my mindset with me going in to tomorrow. Let the scores come and not force anything. I stayed pretty much on the same level today and tried to focus a lot on my processes and be committed to them.”
The Philippines’ Abigail Arevalo sits solo second after carding a sensational flawless round of 67(-6).
Speaking about her best round to date on LETAS, Arevalo said: “For me it was very enjoyable out there. I think the course was very gettable compared to my practice round on Sunday.
“On Sunday, I played a little match play with two of my friends Aloysa and Laura and it was 30mph winds. It got competitive. We had to run inside because the conditions were gettable.
“Today the conditions were better, so I knew I had to take advantage of it as there are so many players out here who would.”
Arevalo has her fiancé Sean Talmadge on the bag this week and she credits him with keeping her cool, calm and collected.
“Tomorrow is a blank state. It’s a new day and I am going to stay focussed, stick to the plan and commit to my shots.
“My rookie season on LETAS has been wonderful. It’s been very exciting.
Arevalo competed previously on the Epson Tour, where she had one career top 10 and admits she’s found the European circuit more inviting so far.
“It’s been an exciting season for me, everyone is so friendly, the staff are so nice and this year is definitely a fresh start. A fresh start for me.”
Arevalo’s highest finish so far has been 15th at Madaef Golfs Ladies Open and she’s looking to do better this week.
Swedish amateur Elsa Svensson finished third on five-under-par whilst four players tied fourth on four-under-par.
These included Singapore’s Aloysa Atienza, Norway’s Maiken Bing Paulsen, Swedish star Lousie Rydqvist and the Netherland’s Zhen Bontan.
Round Two begins at 8:00am. At the end of the day there will be a cut to the top 45 professionals and ties.
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