Minea Blomqvist

Minea Blomqvist-Kakko
 Golfer 

Blomqvist at the 2013 Women's British Open
Personal information
Born (1985-03-12) 12 March 1985
Espoo, Finland
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Nationality  Finland
Spouse Roope Kakko
Children Elmo
Career
Turned professional 2003
Current tour(s) Ladies European Tour (joined 2004)
LPGA Tour (joined 2006)
Professional wins 5
Number of wins by tour
Ladies European Tour 2
Best results in LPGA major championships
ANA Inspiration T47: 2008
Women's PGA C'ship T25: 2006
U.S. Women's Open T27: 2008
Women's British Open T8: 2004
Evian Championship DNP
Achievements and awards
Ladies European Tour
Rookie of the Year
2004

Minea "Minni" Blomqvist, (born 12 March 1985 in Espoo, Finland) is a professional golfer who plays mainly on the U.S. based LPGA Tour but is also a member of the Ladies European Tour.

Amateur career

Blomqvist was a member of the Finnish National Ladies Team from 2001–2003 and played in the 2002 Espirito Santo Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships.[1] She was a two-time member of the European PING Junior Solheim Cup Team in 2002 and 2003[2] winning all her matches in the winning 2003 side[3] and she represented Europe in the 2003 Vagliano Trophy.

She played as an amateur on the Telia Tour four times in 2000 and 2001 missing the cut each time.[4][5] In 2002 she played in three Telia Tour events and recorded two top twenty finishes plus a win at the Sparbanken Ladies Open.[6] In 2003 she played in five Telia tour tournaments, recorded two runner up finishes plus a win at the CA Ladies Trophy.[7] and was named Telia Tour Player of the Year.[8]

Professional career

Blomqvist turned professional late in 2003 and in 2004 claimed her maiden victory in only her second tournament as a professional at the Pam Golding Ladies International on the Nedbank Women's Golf Tour in South Africa[9] following this up with a win in the Telkom Women's Classic a week later.[10] These results meant she finished top of the Nedbank Women's Golf Tour Order of Merit for 2004.[10]

Having finished 36th at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School in 2003,[7] Blomqvist had conditional status for 2004 when making her Ladies European Tour debut in Tenerife where she finished fourth.[11] She won her maiden LET tournament later in the year in Hungary[12] and gained her first top ten finish in a major at the Women's British Open during which she shot a record low score of 62.[13] She had five other top twenty LET finishes in 2004 together with another win at the Öijared Ladies Open on the Telia Tour[14] and was the LET Rookie of the Year.[15]

At the start of 2005 she teamed with Riikka Hakkarainen to represent Finland at the inaugural Women's World Cup of Golf.[16] On the Ladies European Tour she posted 11 top-20 finishes, including back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Ladies English Open[17] and the OTP Bank Ladies Central European Open[18] and earned non-exempt status for the 2006 LPGA Tour season by tying for 34th at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.[19]

At the start of 2006 she again teamed with Riikka Hakkarainen to represent Finland at the Women's World Cup of Golf.[20] She concentrated on playing on the LPGA tour in 2006 ending the season with a best finish of 24th and 102nd on the money list.

In 2008 Blomqvist added another success to her résumé. By winning the Finnair Masters she became the first Finn to triumph in that event.[21] Another notable achievement was finishing tied as a runner-up at the rain-shortened Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika, where she played her last round in 63 strokes.[22] On LPGA Tour her best finish was 3rd place at the Safeway International.[23]

Personal

Blomqvist gave birth to her son Elmo 31 March 2010. The father is Roope Kakko, which she married on New Year's Eve 2011.[24][25]

Professional wins (5)

Ladies European (2)

Other (3)

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

References

  1. "World Amateur Team Championship Record Books". IGF (International Golf Federation). Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  2. Park, Martin (2003-08-29). "Alfredsson named as European Junior Captain". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  3. Park, Martin (2003-10-30). "Back to school for LET". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  4. "Telia Tour Results 2000". golf.se. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  5. "Telia Tour Results 2001". golf.se. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  6. "Tour Results 2002". golf.se. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  7. 1 2 "Tour Results 2003". golf.se. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  8. "Minea Blomqvist Player Profile". Ladies European Tour). Archived from the original on 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  9. Vlismas, Michael (2004-03-25). "Pam Golding Ladies International". Ladies African Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  10. 1 2 Vlismas, Michael (2004-04-01). "Telkom Women's Classic". Ladies African Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  11. Park, Martin (2004-05-06). "LET heads to Portugal with youthful look". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  12. Park, Martin (2004-07-18). "Blomqvist secures maiden victory in Hungary". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  13. Park, Martin (2004-07-31). "Blomqvist makes history at Sunningdale with 62". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  14. "Tour Results 2004". golf.se. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  15. Park, Martin (2004-10-03). "Blomqvist wins Rookie of the Year.". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  16. Park, Martin (2004-12-17). "Women's World Cup of Golf: Twenty teams confirmed". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  17. Cutler, Bethan (2005-07-10). "Hjorth wins back-to-back Ladies English Opens". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  18. Cutler, Bethan (2005-07-16). "Kreutz claims OTP Bank Central European Open". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  19. "Full Career Bio" (PDF). LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  20. "Stellar field for Women’s World Cup of Golf". Ladies European Tour. 2005-12-14. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  21. "Blomqvist wins Finnair Masters on Home Turf". Ladies European Tour. 2008-08-31. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  22. "Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika Leaderboard". golfdata.se. 2008-08-10. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  23. "Lorena Ochoa pulls away to defend Safeway International title". IHT. 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  24. "Minea Blomqvist starts new season as Blomqvist-Kakko" LET, retrieved 2012-01-11.
  25. "Motherhood and Donald Duck big with Finland's Blomqvist". Reuters Canada. 2011-06-24.

External links

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