Carin Koch

Anna Carin Pernilla Hjalmarsson Koch (née Hjalmarsson; born 23 February 1971) is a Swedish professional golfer who previously played on the Ladies European Tour and on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She was captain of the 2015 European Solheim Cup team.

Carin Koch
Koch at the 2012 Dutch Ladies Open
Personal information
Full nameAnna Carin Pernilla Hjalmarsson
Born (1971-02-23) 23 February 1971
Kungälv, Sweden
Height5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Sporting nationality Sweden
ResidenceMölndal, Sweden
PartnerThomas Hedén
Children2
Career
CollegeUniversity of Tulsa
Turned professional1992
Current tour(s)LPGA Tour (joined 1995)
Ladies European Tour (joined 1992)
Professional wins10
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour2
Ladies European Tour1
Other7
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipT5: 2002
Women's PGA C'shipT6: 2002
U.S. Women's OpenT5: 1999
du Maurier ClassicT9: 1999
Women's British OpenT8: 2002

Amateur career

Carin Koch had a successful amateur career. She represented Gullbringa Golf & Country Club, in Kungälv, north of Gothenburg, Sweden, just as elder Swedish female stars Kärstin Ehrnlund and Helen Alfredsson. She was the 1988 Swedish Junior 18 Match-play Champion. She represented Sweden on both junior level and in the national amateur team during the period 1985–1991. She was part of the winning Swedish team at the 1990 European Lady Junior's Team Championship at Shannon Golf Club on Ireland, with, among others, Annika Sörenstam.[1][2]

Koch enrolled at the University of Tulsa and was named Second-Team All-American in 1990 and Scholar All-American in 1991.[3]

Between 1987 and 1991 she played eight times on the Swedish Golf Tour, at the time named the Telia Tour, as an amateur, never finishing outside the top ten.[4][5][6][7][8] She turned professional in 1992.[9]

Professional career

1992 was her rookie year on the Ladies European Tour. She won the Swedish Golf Tour (at the time named the Telia Tour) Order of Merit in both 1992 [10] and 1993,[11] winning three tournaments each year.

In 1994, she finished fourth on the Asian Order of Merit and tied for fifth at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to earn exempt status for the 1995 LPGA season.[2]

In 1995, her rookie season, her best LPGA finish was a tie for second at the JAL Big Apple Classic. She also gained two top ten finishes on the Ladies European Tour. In 1996 she almost gained her maiden LPGA victory, losing the Edina Realty Classic to Liselotte Neumann in a playoff.[2]

In the 1999 Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Koch had a two shot lead with just the final hole to play. Her caddie gave her the wrong club and she made a double bogey to drop into a six-way sudden death playoff, won by Se Ri Pak.[12] In 2000, Koch won her maiden European title at the 2000 Chrysler Open.[13] She was a member of the victorious European Solheim Cup Team, where she went 3-0 as a "rookie" and sank an eight-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to win her match against Michele Redman to clinch the European Team's victory.[14] She also teamed with Sophie Gustafson to win the inaugural TSN Ladies' World Cup of Golf.[15]

In 2001, she became an LPGA maiden winner at the LPGA Corning Classic.[16] At the start of 2002, Carin topped a Playboy internet poll as the sexiest women on the LPGA but declined to pose for them nude.[17] This was the year Koch recorded a career-best 13 top-10 finishes, including three runner-up finishes and was a captain's pick for the European Solheim Cup team.[18] In 2003, Koch gave birth to her second child, but still played well enough to be a captain's pick for the 2003 Solheim Cup, won by the Europeans in her native Sweden.[19]

In 2005, she won her second career LPGA event at the Corona Morelia Championship.[20] and was again a captain's pick for the 2005 Solheim Cup.[21] She teamed up with Sophie Gustafson to represent Sweden at the inaugural Women's World Cup of Golf[22] and was also a member of the International team at the inaugural Lexus Cup.[23] She also played in the 2007 Women's World Cup of Golf with Helen Alfredsson.[24]

In April 2014, Koch was named European team captain for the 2015 Solheim Cup.[25] The 2015 match, played at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, Germany, ended in a U.S. win 14½–13½, after a strong American come-back the last day.

In 2021 Koch fulfilled the age requirement for the U.S. Senior Women's Open, and gained exemption by virtue of her position on the LPGA Tour all-time money list.[26]

Personal life

In 2014, Koch became an honorary member of Hills Golf and Sports Club in Mölndal, south of Gothenburg, Sweden, were she was appointed head of the Hills Business Club.[27]

She was formerly married to golf professional Stefan Koch. During her LPGA Tour career, they lived in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, with their two children, Oliver and Simzon. She now lives in Mölndal, Sweden and uses her maiden name Carin Hjalmarsson.

Amateur wins
  • 1988 Swedish Junior Under 19 Championship

Professional wins (10)

LPGA Tour wins (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 27 May 2001 LPGA Corning Classic −18 (68-67-69-66=270) 2 strokes Sweden Maria Hjorth
Scotland Mhairi McKay
2 24 April 2005 Corona Morelia Championship −9 (68-69-71-71=279) 6 strokes France Karine Icher

LPGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 1996 Edina Realty LPGA Classic United States Brandie Burton
Sweden Liselotte Neumann
England Suzanne Strudwick		 Neumann won with birdie on third extra hole
2 1999 Jamie Farr Kroger Classic United States Kelli Kuehne
Australia Mardi Lunn
South Korea Se-Ri Pak
United States Sherri Steinhauer
Australia Karrie Webb		 Pak won with birdie on first extra hole

Ladies European Tour wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 4 Jun 2000 Chrysler Open −11 (70-73-65-69=277) 4 strokes England Samantha Head

Swedish Golf Tour wins (6)
No. Date Tournament Winning
score		 Margin of
victory		 Runner-up Ref
116 Aug 1992Aspeboda Ladies Open222 (+6)3 strokesSweden Helene Koch[28]
29 Aug 1992Swedish Matchplay Championship1 holeSweden Margareta Bjurö[29]
323 Aug 1992Conor Ladies Open216 (E)1 strokeSweden Helene Koch[30]
413 Jun 1993Ängsö Ladies Open210 (−6)3 strokesSweden Catrin Nilsmark[31]
57 Aug 1993Härjedalens Ladies Open217 (+1)1 strokeSweden Anna Berg[32]
629 Aug 1993Sigtuna Ladies Open209 (–7)2 strokesSweden Anna-Carin Jonasson[33]

Other wins (1)

Results in LPGA majors
Tournament199519961997199819992000
Kraft Nabisco Championship CUT CUT CUT T17
LPGA Championship CUT T18 T53 T18 T36 T40
U.S. Women's Open T40 CUT T13 T5 T31
du Maurier Classic CUT CUT CUT T63 T9 12
Tournament2001200220032004200520062007200820092010
Kraft Nabisco Championship T15 T5 T16 T30 T24 T61 T63 CUT T64
LPGA Championship T17 T6 T11 T7 T49 CUT CUT T69
U.S. Women's Open CUT T37 CUT T10 CUT T28 CUT CUT CUT
Women's British Open ^ T56 T8 T50 T13 T15 CUT CUT CUT T55
Tournament20112012
Kraft Nabisco Championship
LPGA Championship
U.S. Women's Open
Women's British Open ^ CUT T43

^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut.
"T" tied

Summary
  • Starts – 58
  • Wins – 0
  • 2nd-place finishes – 0
  • 3rd-place finishes – 0
  • Top 3 finishes – 0
  • Top 5 finishes – 2
  • Top 10 finishes – 7
  • Top 25 finishes – 19
  • Missed cuts – 21
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 9
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

LPGA Tour career summary
YearWinsEarnings ($)Money list rankAverage
1995 0 129,313 48 72.54
1996 0 128,772 50 73.26
1997 0 70,802 87 73.04
1998 0 207,432 35 72.34
1999 0 260,962 33 71.98
2000 0 329,377 28 72.40
2001 1 421,329 25 71.69
2002 0 785,817 8 70.91
2003 0 155,023 58 72.20
2004 0 568,404 20 71.04
2005 1 612,036 21 71.59
2006 0 223,664 60 72.61
2007 0 152,232 69 74.22
2008 0 313,468 54 72.58
2009 0 55,855 111 73.77
2010 0 10,882 n/a 74.00
2011 0 0 n/a 78.50
2012 0 14,564 138 75.75

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Solheim Cup record
YearTotal
matches		Total
W–L–H		Singles
W–L–H		Foursomes
W–L–H		Fourballs
W–L–H		Points
won		Points
%
Career 16 10–3–3 2–1–1 5–0–2 3–2–0 11.5 71.9%
2000 3 3–0–0 1–0–0 def M. Redman 2&1 1–0–0 won w/C. Nilsmark 2&1 1–0–0 won w/C. Nilsmark 2&1 3 100%
2002 5 4–0–1 0–0–1 halved w/ B. Daniel 2–0–0 won w/A. Sörenstam 3&2, won w/A. Sörenstam 4&3 2–0–0 won w/ M. McKay 3&2, won w/A. Sörenstam 4&3 4.5 90%
2003 4 1–2–1 0–1–0 lost to J. Inkster 5&4 1–0–1 halved w/L. Davies, won w/A. Sörenstam 3&2 0–1–0 lost w/A. Sörenstam 1dn 1.5 37.5%
2005 4 2–1–1 1–0–0 def M. Redman 2&1 1–0–1 halved w/C. Matthew, won w/ S. Gustafson 5&3 0–1–0 lost w/C. Matthew 1dn 2.5 62.5%

Notes and references
  1. "Golf - Den Stora Sporten'" [Golf - the Great Sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation 100 Years. pp. 193, 198, 211, 220, 225.
  2. "Carin Koch Full Career Bio" (PDF). LPGA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  3. "Tulsa All-Americans". University of Tulsa. Archived from the original on 26 February 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  4. "1987 Results Telia Tour". Golfdata. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  5. "1988 Results Telia Tour". Golfdata. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  6. "1989 Results Telia Tour". Golfdata. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  7. "1990 Results Telia Tour". Golfdata. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  8. "1991 Results Telia Tour". Golfdata. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  9. "Carin Koch Player Profile". LET. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  10. "1992 Results Telia Tour". Golfdata. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  11. "1993 Results Telia Tour". Golfdata. Retrieved 1 April 2007.
  12. Park, Martin (10 August 2002). "Koch vows to pay attention". LET. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  13. "Sweden's Carin Koch wins Chrysler Open". CBC Sports. 4 June 2000. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  14. "Solheim Cup Player Profile: Carin Koch". LET. 4 September 2002. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  15. "Swedes hold off English pair". BBC News. 17 September 2000. Retrieved 17 March 2007.
  16. "Koch pips McKay to title". BBC Sport. 27 May 2001. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  17. "Sex & the LPGA". Golf for Women. Archived from the original on 29 March 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  18. "Reid chooses wild cards amid controversy". LET. 25 August 2002. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  19. "European Team announced". LET. 25 August 2003. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  20. "Koch wins Corona Morelia Championship". LET. 25 April 2005. Archived from the original on 25 October 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  21. "The 2005 European Solheim Cup team announced". LET. 28 August 2005. Retrieved 23 March 2007.
  22. "Women's World Cup of Golf: Twenty teams confirmed". LET. 17 December 2004. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  23. "Internationals win The Lexus Cup". LET. 12 December 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  24. "Teams confirmed for Women's World Cup of Golf". LET. 23 November 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  25. "Carin Koch Named 2015 European Solheim Cup Team Captain". LPGA. 11 April 2004.
  26. "2021 U.S. Senior Women's Open". USGA. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  27. "Carin Hjalmarsson". Hills Golf & Sports Club. 26 November 2019.
  28. "Results 1992 Aspeboda Ladies Open". Golfdata. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  29. "Results 1992 SM Match". Golfdata. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  30. "Results 1992 Conor Ladies Open". Golfdata. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  31. "Results 1992 Ängsö Ladies Open". Golfdata. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  32. "Results 1993 Härjedalens Ladies Open". Golfdata. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  33. "Results 1993 Sigtuna Ladies Open". Golfdata. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  34. "Golf - Den Stora Sporten'" [Golf - the Great Sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation 100 Years. pp. 192, 198, 199.
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