Staff WriterIf The ANNIKA taught us anything this week, it’s that golf has a wicked sense of humour. One minute it knocks you flat, the next it hands you a 72-hole masterpiece, and Linn Grant seized her moment with both hands.
The Swede stormed The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican with a relentless 19-under total, tying the tournament scoring record and leaving the rest of the field staring at her tail lights.
Grant never trailed on Sunday. Not once. She closed with a steely 65—six birdies, one bogey, and a display of ball-striking that made the Pelican Golf Club look like a polite training exercise.
She hit 12 of 14 fairways, 14 of 18 greens, and needed just 27 putts. For a player who called her season “personally quite disappointing,” she turned the week into a statement delivered with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
“I think for myself this season has been personally quite disappointing up until now… I think today was just a win for me,” Grant said. “I think especially with Annika and her event, I think it was maybe a win for little me.”
Well, little-her just tied the 72-hole scoring record of 261 set by Lilia Vu in 2023. She also chalked up the most birdies of anyone this week—24—and topped the field in greens in regulation with 64 of 72. She didn’t just win The ANNIKA; she ran a clinic.
Kupcho Chased Hard—Grant Just Kept Running
Jennifer Kupcho gave the leaderboard a proper push with a three-under 67, her lowest 72-hole tally ever at 264. Five birdies, two bogeys, and enough quality shots to win most weeks—but this wasn’t most weeks, and Grant wasn’t giving an inch.
“Linn just played amazing,” Kupcho said. “There is nothing you can really do when you’re playing against someone that’s playing really well.”
Kupcho’s runner-up finish is her best result since her ShopRite win and her fourth top-10 of the year. She also put herself in pole position for the 2025 Aon Risk Reward Challenge after rolling in both a birdie and an eagle over the four days.
Lopez Finds Her Stride With Sunday Charge
Gaby Lopez matched Grant’s final-round 65, picking up six birdies and dropping just one shot. She went bogey-free on the back nine and tied for the second-most birdies of the week with 23.
“Just keep learning about myself,” Lopez said. “I felt myself much more comfortable… those are really, really positive emotional and mental assets that you can have.”
Her third-place finish is her best of the season and her strongest at this event.
Bubble Drama: The CME Scramble
With The ANNIKA serving as the final chance to crack the top-60 Race to the CME Globe standings, the bubble was a cage fight:
- Nataliya Guseva: Holed out on 18, finished T7, vaulted from 64 to 57.
- Lucy Li: Closed with 66, six birdies, moved from 71 to 58.
- Brooke Matthews: Fired 65… made a hole-in-one on 12… then chipped in for eagle. Climbed from 62 to 59.
- Alexa Pano: T36 to keep her full status for next season.
Meanwhile, Miyu Yamashita clinched the 2025 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award, and Caroline Inglis signed off on her LPGA career, announcing her retirement after Sunday’s round.
What Grant’s Victory Really Means
This win makes Grant the 29th different winner of the 2025 season—a historic stretch of variety—and the fourth Swedish champion this year alone. She’s the first from her country to lift The ANNIKA trophy and the first Swede to win in Florida since Madelene Sagstrom in 2020.
She’s now topped $1 million in season earnings, sits at five top-10s for the year, and looks every bit the player who’s won twice on the LPGA Tour, represented Sweden in the Olympics, and claimed six Ladies European Tour titles—including being the first and only woman to twice win the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed.
In short, Grant didn’t just rediscover her form—she tore the lid off it.
Grant said this win felt like “a true full circle.”
Watching her dismantle Pelican Golf Club shot by shot, it felt more like the start of a new one.
If this is the version of Linn Grant the rest of the season gets, good luck to everyone else.
