Sofia Grönberg-Whitmore
Personal information
Full nameSofia Maria Grönberg Whitmore
Born (1965-05-25) 25 May 1965
Falköping, Sweden
Sporting nationality Sweden
ResidenceHalmstad, Sweden
SpouseJohn Whitmore
Career
CollegeUniversity of Alabama
Turned professional1988
Former tour(s)Ladies European Tour (1989–2001)
Professional wins8
Number of wins by tour
Ladies European Tour3
Ladies Asian Golf Tour1
Other4
Achievements and awards
Ladies Asian Golf Tour Order of Merit1989
Swedish Golfer of the Year1989

Sofia Grönberg-Whitmore (born 25 May 1965) is a Swedish professional golfer. She played on the Ladies European Tour (LET) between 1989 and 2001 and won three LET titles. In 1989 she also won a title on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour and its Order of Merit.[1]

Alongside Helen Alfredsson and Liselotte Neumann, Grönberg-Whitmore was one of the pioneers of women's professional golf in Sweden in the 1980s.

Amateur career

She spent two years with the golf team at the University of Alabama and later married Englishman John Whitmore, residing in Warwickshire for part of her career.[2]

As an amateur, she was part of the Swedish teams winning the 1984 European Lady Junior's Team Championship and the 1987 European Ladies' Team Championship. She played in the 1986 Espirito Santo Trophy in Caracas, Venezuela with Helen Alfredsson and Eva Dahllöf. In 1987 she played for Europe in the Vagliano Trophy.[1]

Professional career

Grönberg-Whitmore turned professional in 1988 and joined the Ladies European Tour. She won the 1988 IBM Ladies Open, a Swedish Golf Tour event that was added to the LET schedule two years later.

In early 1989, Grönberg-Whitmore played on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour, where she won the Indonesia Ladies Open and that season's Order of Merit. Back in Europe, she won the LET season opener, the Rome Classic, in April. At the end of the year, she was named Swedish Golfer of the Year.[3]

Over the next decade, her best results were runner-up finishes at the La Manga Spanish Open and the Sens Ladies' Dutch Open, both in 1994. She returned to her winning ways in 1999. After triumphing both in the Air France Madame Biarritz Open and the inaugural Cantor Fitzgerald Laura Davies Invitational at Brocket Hall, she moved to fifth place on the LET Order of Merit and sixth spot on the European Solheim Cup ranking.[4]

Professional wins (8)

Ladies European Tour (3)

No.DateTournamentWinning
score		Margin of
victory		Runner-up
1 16 Apr 1989 Rome Classic 210 (−6) 1 stroke France Marie-Laure Taya
2 30 Aug 1999 Laura Davies Invitational 275 (−13) Playoff England Trish Johnson
3 9 Oct 1999 Air France Madame Biarritz Open 200 (−10) 3 strokes France Sandrine Mendiburu

Ladies Asian Golf Tour (1)

Swedish Golf Tour (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning
score		Margin of
victory		Runner-up
1 28 Aug 1988 IBM Ladies Open 224 (+5) 2 strokes Sweden Maria Guslin
Sweden Pia Nilsson

Other (3)

  • 2005 Prins Bertils Pokal
  • 2007 Prins Bertils Pokal
  • 2010 Prins Bertils Pokal

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

Source:[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den stora sporten [Golf - The great sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. pp. 184–187, 193, 198–199, 227, 266. ISBN 91-86818007.
  2. ↑ Golf: Gronberg prevails in play-off test of nerve, The Independent, 31 August 1999
  3. ↑ Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den stora sporten [Golf - The great sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. p. 44. ISBN 91-86818007.
  4. ↑ Gronberg wins second title of season, Golf Today, 31 August 1999
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