Three straight top 10’s and mentorship from NHL great Mats Sundin leads Holmqvist
EL DORADO, Ark., September 21, 2015 – The Epson Tour, Road to the LPGA, is excited to confirm that Dani Holmqvist (Stockholm, Sweden) has assured herself full LPGA Tour membership for the 2016 season by finishing in a tie for fourth at the Garden City Charity Classic last week and moving to third on the Volvik Race for the Card money list.
Holmqvist entered the Midwest Swing at No. 17 on the money list. She finished second at the Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge to move to fifth and then finished in a tie for sixth at the Prairie Band Casino & Resort Charity Classic before her latest top five to move to third.
Holmqvist has pocketed $26,019 in the last three weeks to assure herself a spot in the final top 10.
“The last three weeks were really good, moving from 17th to third is something I dreamt about, but didn’t expect so it’s really cool that it came true,” said Holmqvist on Monday from Garden City. “Playing on the LPGA is obviously a dream come true and something that felt far away before these three events.”
The 27-year-old said the biggest difference has been her putting. She now ranks 20th in putts per greens in regulation and attempted 28 putts or less in all three rounds of the Garden City Charity Classic.
“In the first part of the year, I was No. 130 statistically in putting and now I’m top 20,” explained Holmqvist, who won the Island Resort Championship in June. “It comes down to scoring and I’ve been struggling with putting for so many years and it’s nice to see the turnaround.”
The former University of California golfer also said that skipping the Boston event in August and spending nearly a month at home was the “medicine” she need to feel refreshed and ready for the final stretch.
Holmqvist got a taste of the LPGA Tour in 2014 when she played in ten events with partial status earned by finishing in a tie for 44th at 2013 LPGA Qualifying Tournament. She struggled and became "burned out and sick of everything" so she knew change was needed.
She called on one of the greatest hockey players of all-time, Mats Sundin, who was recently inducted into the Toronto Maple Leafs ‘Legends Row’, for help. Sundin, also a Stockholm native, has become a mentor to Holmqvist and has schooled her on the mental toughness necessary to succeed at the highest level of sport.
“He is the closest person on my team, he obviously doesn’t help me with golf instruction, but he has changed my whole commitment to golf and my whole work process,” said Holmqvist. “Mats has worked with me a lot on mental toughness because he was one of the greatest to ever play his sport and it is paying off big.”
Holmqvist first received national headlines in 2013 when she used a golf tee to remove potentially fatal
venom from a spider bite during a competitive round in Australia.
The top four on the current Volvik Race for the Card money list - No. 1 Giulia Molinaro, No. 2 Annie Park, No. 3 Dani Holmqvist and No. 4 Vicky Hurst - have all locked up LPGA Tour cards for 2016.
Holmqvist will play in this week’s Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout from September 25-27 at Mystic Creek Golf Course in El Dorado, Arkansas.
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