Puk Lyng Thomsen

Puk Lyng Thomsen (born 15 April 1998) is a Danish professional golfer. As an amateur she won the 2017 French Ladies Amateur and finished second individually in the 2016 Espirito Santo Trophy.

Puk Lyng Thomsen
Personal information
Born (1998-04-15) 15 April 1998
Fredrikshavn, Denmark
Height5 ft 3 in (160 cm)
Sporting nationality Denmark
ResidenceAalborg, Denmark
Career
CollegeFlorida State University
Turned professional2022
Current tour(s)LET Access Series (joined 2023)
Professional wins1

Amateur career

Thomsen was born in Frederikshavn in 1998 and started playing golf when she was seven years old. At the age of 13, she was picked for the national team.[1] By the time she accepted a golf scholarship to Florida State University in 2018, she was one of the most accomplished junior golfers in the world, and at 17th spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings one of the top ranked players to ever sign for Florida State University.[2]

Thomsen won the Danish Junior Matchplay Championship in 2011 and won her first international tournament in 2012, the Öijared Junior Open in Sweden. The next year, she appeared for Denmark in the European Young Masters and the European Girls' Team Championship. She appeared in the European Ladies' Team Championship six times between 2014 and 2019. In 2015, when it was held at Helsingør Golf Club in her home country, she won the individual stroke play qualifying event. She carded rounds of 71 and 65 to finish a single shot ahead of England's Alice Hewson and Finland's Matilda Castren, and in the process jumped into a tie for second place on the European Ranking behind leader Agathe Laisne.[3]

As a result, Thomsen played for Team Europe in the 2015 Junior Solheim Cup held at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot in Germany. She also represented Europe in the Patsy Hankins Trophy against Asia/Pacific twice, in 2016 and 2018. In 2018, she was the only returning European player from 2016, along with Bianca Fabrizio and Frida Kinhult.

At the 2015 World Junior Girls Championship in Canada, she won the team silver, along with Cecilie Bofill and Line Toft Hansen. She finished in third place in the 2016 Portuguese International Ladies Amateur Championship, and third in the 2017 French International Lady Juniors Amateur Championship, where she shot a tournament personal best 3-under par 68 in the second round. She shot an all-tournament best 8-under par score of 64 in the final round to win the French International Ladies Amateur Championship ahead of Alessia Nobilio of Italy. She was runner-up in the European Nations Cup - Copa Sotogrande, in Spain.

In 2017, Thomsen also played in the Vagliano Trophy along with future fellow Seminole Morgane Metraux, and competed in the U.S. Women's Amateur. She finished in second place in the individual standings with a 12-under par total at the 2016 World Championships in Mexico, the 2016 Espirito Santo Trophy, and helped the Danish team with Marie Lund-Hansen and Malene Krølbøll Hansen secure fourth place.

Thomsen was one of five heralded recruits in head coach Amy Bond's best-ever recruiting class that arrived on the Florida State University campus in September of 2018, having turned down an offer from Oklahoma State University. She was a big part of a star-studded group of freshmen in the Florida State Seminoles women's golf team that included Frida Kinhult, Caroline Hodge, Amelia Williamson and Beatrice Wallin. With Thomsen in the lineup, Florida State tied the school-best for finishes in the ACC Championship (second) and the NCAA Auburn Regional Championship (second).[4]

Thomsen's career was dealt a serious blow when a back injury she had been developing for six years got progressively worse. In the spring of 2020, she decided to end her Florida State Seminoles career after only two years, and moved back to Denmark for treatment.[4] By May 2020, she couldn't even walk, and decided to undergo the same operation as Tiger Woods, a surgery designed to stabilize the lower part of her back. With the operation seemingly a success, following a year of rehabilitation, she competed in a small number of local tournaments in 2021.[1]

Professional career

Thomsen turned professional in October 2022. She joined the 2023 LET Access Series, where she won the Västerås Ladies Open four strokes ahead of Kajsa Arwefjäll in second.

Amateur wins
  • 2011 Danish Junior Matchplay Championship
  • 2012 Öijared Junior Open
  • 2013 Danish Junior Championship
  • 2014 DGU Elite Tour Damer 1
  • 2015 Danish National Strokeplay Championship
  • 2016 Danish National Strokeplay Championship
  • 2017 French International Ladies Amateur Championship, DGU Elite Tour 1, DGU Elite Tour Finale
  • 2019 Danish International Ladies Amateur Championship

Sources:[5][6]

Professional wins (1)

LET Access Series (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning
score		 To par Margin
of victory		 Runner-up Ref
1 1 Jul 2023 Västerås Ladies Open 69-66-73=208 −8 4 strokes Sweden Kajsa Arwefjäll (a) [7]

Team appearances

Amateur

References
  1. "Puk Lyng Thomsen". Ride High Magazine. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  2. "World's No. 17 Player, Puk Lyng Thomsen, Signs NLI With Bond And Women's Golf". Florida State University. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  3. "Home Help For Denmark's Puk Lyng Thomsen". Women & Golf. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  4. "Puk Lyng Thomsen: A Success Story". Florida State University. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  5. "Puk Lyng Thomsen". WAGR. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  6. "Puk Lyng Thomsen". Golfdata. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  7. "2023 Västerås Ladies Open". LET Access Series. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  8. "European Ladies' Team Championship – European Golf Association". Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
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