Sweden’s Andrea Lignell stormed onto the professional golf scene at the start of last summer.
The 24-year-old made a name for herself at the MoreGolf Mastercard Open where she narrowly missed out on the win to 2024 LETAS Order of Merit and compatriot Kajsa Arwefjall.
Lignell fired a phenomenal opening round of 64(-8) and set a new course record in the process, but was forced to settle for second place after Arwefjall attacked back on the final day.
Another runner-up place followed two tournaments later at the Smorum Ladies Open.
The Gothenburg based player, who represents the Hills Golfclub, impressively finished 11th on the LETAS Order of Merit in her rookie year but admits that the closing stages of the 2024 season were difficult.
Speaking about last year, Lignell said: “The season was very up and down. Coming straight out of college. I had the momentum from just playing a lot and kind of just kept going in the summer.
“But then I had some huge struggles in the second part of the season. I was in a pretty bad spot.”
After Q School, Lignell hit the pause button on her golf and stopped playing.
“I lost my love for golf after Morocco. I was in a pretty bad spot, I decided to switch coach and now I’ve started to find my joy again for the game.”
Lignell’s amateur record is exemplary and includes a third-place finish at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2023, a bronze and silver at the European Girls and Ladies Team Championships with Team Sweden and a career best 18thon the Women’s Amateur Golf Rankings.
The Swede also rolled in the winning putt as part of the Ole Miss 2021 NCAA Championship winning team, which included LET players, Chiara Tamburlini and Smilla Tarning Sønderby.
“My college experience was amazing. It was the perfect place for me to develop as a person and player.
“So many Ole Miss girls are out on tour and it’s great to get to travel with them once again, it made the transition to professional golf much easier.”
Unlike many players on Tour, Lignell didn’t grow up dreaming to be a professional golfer, but it was at college where Lignell first decided to pursue it.
“I wasn’t 100% sure that I would play golf after college. In my second year I just kind of realised that this is what I loved to do, and I couldn’t imagine not doing it anymore.”
Lignell picked up the game at a young age. Born into a golfing family, around the age of five her father bribed her with ice cream to get her onto the golf course and it worked.
“I feel like I was a slow starter. I was in the girls’ team when I was 17 and 18 but before that I wasn’t really into practicing and grinding.
“It wasn’t until I was 17 that I realized I loved doing this and started putting a lot more time into it.
“Then I started to play with the national team and then obviously went into the ladies’ team after when I was 19.”
To gear up for her second season on LETAS, Lignell has been playing on the Sunshine Ladies Tour out in South Africa but is excited to get things going on LETAS.
“I think the schedule looks great. The schedule looks perfect for traveling and having enough time in between some of the tournaments.
“I’m excited for the first event at Terre Blanche because I didn’t play it last year.
“I’m also very excited about the Swedish stretch as always and I’m very excited to go back to Switzerland because that was one of my favourite venues.
“I think the first Swedish event is going to be cool, it will be fun for a new format and mixed event”
After struggling at the end of last season, Lignell is approaching the season with a new mental attitude.
“My main goal is to get top seven, get my LET card but trying to maybe take it a bit more step by step and because I feel like I got way too ahead of myself last year.
“I just kind of need to work on my processes that I have and kind of just see results in those instead of just trying to find a result in my score each day.”
For more information on the LET Access Series, visit letaccess.com and follow @LETAccess on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – #Access2LET.
