Catriona Matthew: One of the most accomplished European golfers
This LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) season could go the way of any player’s who performs well and wins as many victories as she can, but
Scottish Catriona Matthew is the one who still stands out despite making some mistakes in some of the recent tournaments.
The LPGA line-up has never run dry as it keeps churning out talented young stars each year, but for many, veteran Matthew has been the towering force as she has not only proved her mettle
on the LPGA Tour, but she has also done well on the LET (Ladies European Tour).
With a handful of exceptions, most of LPGA and LET stars get overshadowed by Matthew’s stellar career that has seen her win several titles.
It will not be wrong to think of Matthew as the most accomplished golfer in Europe. The Scottish golfer has been the star performer on the LET as she has grabbed five victories since she joined
the Tour in 1995. Although some say points or rankings have never been on her agenda as her biggest aspiration is to play quality golf, still, she seeks to win despite the fact that she is now among the oldest stars.
The veteran prodigy first dazzled women’s golf when she won her maiden LET title at the McDonald’s WPGA Championship in August 1998. It was a stellar triumph in every sense as being a relatively
new player to the Tour whose line-up featured big names, Matthew could not have done any better. She had beaten Helen Alfredsson and English Laura Davis by five strokes to life the coveted title.
She remained winless for a long time as all her efforts could garner was a couple of good finishes along the way. Then in the August 2007, she finally put an end to her LET victory drought,
winning the Scandinavian TPC as she outrivaled Swedish Sophie Gustafson and Laura Diaz.
However, during her lacklustre stint on the LET, Matthew kept inspiring her fans on the LPGA Tour. She recorded her maiden LPGA triumph in February 2001 as she won the Cup Noodles Hawaiian
Ladeis Open.
Matthew earned her last LPGA victory at Lorena Ochoa Invitational in November 2011 as she beat South Korean I.K. Kim and Swedish Anna Nordqvist by four strokes.
After another protracted gap, fans finally saw the LPGA titan in action once again when she came face-to-face against rivals at the LPGA Hana Bank Championship 2012, held at Incheon, South
Korea this month.
She locked horns with Norwegian Suzann Pettersen in playoff, but had to face disappointment after she was beaten on the third extra hole. Pettersen sank a beautiful birdie-putt to win the
title.
“It's always nice to grind it out at the end of the day. You always feel like you might get the best part of your game, but it was just solid enough to hang in there,” Pettersen said after
winning the tournament.
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