| Helen Alfredsson | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alfredsson in 2014 | |||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Full name | Helen Christine Alfredsson | ||||||||
| Nickname | Alfie | ||||||||
| Born | (1965-04-09)9 April 1965 (age 59) Gothenburg,Sweden | ||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||
| Sporting nationality |  Sweden | ||||||||
| Residence | Orlando, Florida, U.S. Onsala, Kungsbacka, Sweden | ||||||||
| Spouse | Kent Nilsson (2005–2016) | ||||||||
| Partner | Kent Nilsson | ||||||||
| Career | |||||||||
| College | U.S. International University (graduated 1988) | ||||||||
| Turned professional | 1989 | ||||||||
| Current tour(s) | Legends Tour (2012–present) | ||||||||
| Former tour(s) | Ladies European Tour (1989–2013) LPGA Tour (1992–2013) | ||||||||
| Professional wins | 29 | ||||||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||||||
| LPGA Tour | 7 | ||||||||
| Ladies European Tour | 11 | ||||||||
| LPGA of Japan Tour | 3 | ||||||||
| ALPG Tour | 1 | ||||||||
| Other | 6 (regular) 2 (senior) | ||||||||
| Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 1) | |||||||||
| Chevron Championship | Won:1993 | ||||||||
| Women's PGA C'ship | T5:1992 | ||||||||
| U.S. Women's Open | 2nd/T2:1993,2008 | ||||||||
| du Maurier Classic | T8:1993 | ||||||||
| Women's British Open | T40: 2002 | ||||||||
| Evian Championship | CUT: 2013 | ||||||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Helen Christine Alfredsson (born 9 April 1965) is aSwedishprofessional golfer who played primarily on the U.S.-basedLPGA Tour and is also a life member of theLadies European Tour. She won the LPGAmajorNabisco Dinah Shore and twice finished second in theU.S. Women's Open. She also won theWomen's British Open once and theEvian Masters three times before those events were designated as majors in women's golf by the LPGA Tour. In 2019, she won a "senior slam" by winning both of thesenior women's major championships.
Alfredsson was born inGothenburg,Sweden and at age 11 began playing golf at Gullbringa Golf & Country Club north of Gothenburg. At young ages, she represented Sweden on both junior level and in the national amateur team.[1][2]
She attendedUnited States International University,San Diego,California, playing in their golf team led by coach Gordon Severson and graduated in 1988.[3][4] During summertime she played in Sweden and won theSwedish Match-play Championship three years in a row 1986 through 1988, as an amateur while the championship since 1986 had become open for professionals and part of theSwedish Golf Tour for women.[5][6][7]
In 1987, she was a member of the winning Swedish team at theEuropean Ladies' Team Championship atTurnberry,Scotland.[1] She was also a member of the Swedish team in theEspirito Santo Trophy 1986 and 1988.[1] At home soil inStockholm in 1988, Sweden finished second after theUnited States, which was at the time, the best Swedish finish ever. The same year Alfredsson finished individual bronze-medallist at theEuropean Ladies Amateur Championship at Pedrena Golf Club,Spain.[1]
She turned professional on 1 January 1989.[2]
Alfredsson began her professional career on theLadies European Tour where she was awarded 1989 Rookie of the Year. The next year, in 1990, she claimed her maiden professional win at theWomen's British Open. She won twice on the LET in 1991 and won once each on theAustralian andJapan tours.[2] She earned exempt status for the 1992 LPGA Tour season by tying for 17th at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.[3]
She earnedRookie of the Year honors on theLPGA Tour in 1992 and has won seven LPGA Tour events, including oneLPGA major: the1993 Nabisco Dinah Shore. A little over three months after her Dinah Shore victory, Alfredsson nearly won theU.S. Women's Open atCrooked Stick Golf Club. Alfredsson entered the final round with a two-stroke advantage, but finished tied for 2nd, one shot behind winnerLauri Merten.[1]
At the1994 U.S. Women's Open atIndianwood Golf & Country Club,Michigan, Alfredsson shot an 8 under first round 63, a new tournament single round record. Her 36-hole total 132 also broke the tournament record. When she reached 13 under during the third round, it was at the time the lowest score to par ever reached in a U.S. Open, by men or women. After playing her last 29 holes in 14 over par, she fell to tied 9th, eight shots behind winnerPatty Sheehan.[1]
During her career on the LPGA Tour, Alfredsson continued to play a limited number of events inEurope, where she won eleven times. She finished on top of the Ladies European Tour money list in1998.
In 2008, Alfredsson came back, after recovering from injuries in her leg, back and shoulder, and won her thirdEvian Masters title, her first LPGA Tour win in five years.[8]
She was member of the EuropeanSolheim Cup team as a player eight times:1990,1992,1994,1996,1998,2000,2002 and2009. She was appointed captain of the2007 EuropeanSolheim Cup team, losing to the United States team 12-16. When she qualified for the European Team at the2009 Solheim Cup, she became the first, and still the only, player on both teams, to qualify as a player after she has been the team captain a previous year.
While playing golf, Alfredsson has been known tocurse long and loud in Swedish.[9]The Financial Times of London once editorialized "They can be louder and more richly worded than many ofLenny Bruce's best performances". Alfredsson said about cursing "You have to stay so focused on the tour, you work so hard, you don't want anything to interfere. But then all of a sudden this little devil comes crawling out, saying, 'It's time to do something. You've been good too long." "[10]
In September 2013, Alfredsson officially announced her retirement from the LPGA Tour.[11]
After her retirement from competitive golf on the regular tour, she came back, playing on the women's senior tour, theLegends Tour, primarily in the senior majors, with great success. She tied for third in the inauguralSenior LPGA Championship in 2017 and improved that by finishing tied second at the 2018Senior LPGA Championship. She won both of the two senior ladies major championships in 2019, theU.S. Senior Women's Open and theSenior LPGA Championship, completing the same "senior slam" asLaura Davies achieved in 2018.[12][13][14][15][16]
She is a life time member of theLadies European Tour.
In 1986, Alfredsson earned Elite Sign No. 81 by theSwedish Golf Federation, on the basis of national team appearances and national championship performances.[17]
She was awarded the 1990Swedish Golfer of the Year, male or female, amateur or professional.[18]
In 1992, she was, by theSwedish Golf Federation, awarded the Golden Club, the highest award for contributions to Swedish golf, as the 14th recipient.[19]
In 1998 Alfredsson was awarded honorary member of the PGA of Sweden.[20]
In 2024, she was inducted into the Swedish Golf Hall of Fame.[21]
At young age she practicedice skating and teamhandball. Her father Björn was a six-time Swedish handball champion and a keen golfer himself. The father and daughter won the 1999 Swedish Two Generations Mixed Championship, played as 36-hole foursome.[1]
In later years Alfredsson has practiced yoga.[8]
During her college years in San Diego, California, she metLeonardo Cuéllar, the school's soccer coach and a formerWorld Cup andOlympicsoccer player forMexico. The couple later got engaged.[22]
After graduating in 1988 with a degree in International Business and Marketing, she tried a career inParis,France as a model and stayed for six months.[3][4]
In 2005, Alfredsson married formerNational Hockey League playerKent Nilsson and became stepmother of his son, hockey playerRobert Nilsson. Kent Nilsson was en elite amateur golfer himself, with ahandicap below scratch. They divorced in 2016, but came back to live together.[8]
She has contributed to the foundation of a charity golf tournament supporting research onAlzheimer's disease, which affected her mother, who died in 2010.[8]
Source:[1]
| Legend |
|---|
| LPGA Tour major championships (1) |
| Other LPGA Tour (6) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 Mar1993 | Nabisco Dinah Shore | −4 (69-71-72-72=284) | 2 strokes |  Tina BarrettAmy BenzBetsy King |
| 2 | 31 Jul1994 | PING/Welch's Championship | −14 (70-68-70-66=274) | 4 strokes | Pat BradleyJuli Inkster |
| 3 | 25 Jan1998 | The Office Depot | −11 (68-71-67-71=277) | 2 strokes | Liselotte Neumann |
| 4 | 15 Mar1998 | Welch's/Circle K Championship | −14 (68-64-70-72=274) | 1 stroke | Dana Dormann Liselotte Neumann |
| 5 | 5 Oct2003 | Longs Drugs Challenge | −13 (72-69-64-70=275) | 1 stroke | Pat Hurst Jung Yeon LeeSe Ri PakGrace Park Rachel Teske |
| 6 | 27 Jul2008 | Evian Masters1 | −15 (71-63-71-67=273) | Playoff | Na Yeon Choi Angela Park |
| 7 | 26 Oct2008 | Grand China Air LPGA | −12 (70-69-65=204) | 3 strokes |  Yani Tseng |
LPGA Tour playoff record (1–3)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1992 | Mazda Japan Classic | Betsy King | Lost to birdie on fourth extra hole |
| 2 | 1997 | Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf | Juli InksterKelly Robbins | Inkster won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 3 | 2008 | Evian Masters1 | Na Yeon ChoiAngela Park | Won with birdie on third extra hole Park eliminated by birdie on first hole |
| 4 | 2008 | Safeway Classic | Sophie GustafsonCristie Kerr | Kerr won with birdie on first extra hole |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 Aug1990 | Weetabix Women's British Open | −4 (70-71-74-73=288) | Playoff |  Jane Hill |
| 2 | 16 Jun1991 | Hennessy Ladies Cup | −8 (70-71-71-68=280) | Playoff |  Marie-Laure de Lorenzi, Corinne Dibnah |
| 3 | 23 Jun 1991 | Trophée Coconut Skol | −12 (73-68-73-75=276) | 3 strokes |  Dale Reid |
| 4 | 12 Jul1992 | Hennessy Ladies Cup (2) | −17 (68-70-67-66=271) | 1 stroke |  Trish Johnson |
| 5 | 30 Aug 1992 | IBM Ladies' Open | −14 (68-70-71-69=278) | 2 strokes | Liselotte Neumann |
| 6 | 12 Jun1994 | Evian Masters | −1 (71 73 73 70=287) | 3 strokes | Sarah Gautrey, Laura Fairclaugh |
| 7 | 7 Jul1996 | Hennessy Cup (3) | −8 (68-70-71-71=280) | Playoff | Trish Johnson,Liselotte Neumann |
| 8 | 10 Aug1997 | McDonald's WPGA Championship of Europe | −12 (74-65-67-70=276) | 4 strokes | Kathryn Marshall,Charlotta Sörenstam |
| 9 | 6 Jun1998 | Evian Masters (2) | −11 (70-69-73- 65=277) | 4 strokes | Maria Hjorth |
| 10 | 29 Jul2001 | WPGA Championship of Europe (2) | −16 (67-70-68-71=276) | 4 strokes |  Suzann Pettersen |
| 11 | 27 Jul2008 | Evian Masters1 | −15 (72-63-71-67=273) | Playoff | Na Yeon Choi,Angela Park |
Ladies European Tour playoff record (4–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1990 | Women's British Open | Jane Hill | Won with par on fourth extra hole |
| 2 | 1991 | Hennessy Ladies Cup | Marie-Laure de Lorenzi Corinne Dibnah | Won with birdie on third extra hole de Lorenzi eliminated by par on first hole |
| 3 | 1996 | Hennessy Cup | Trish JohnsonLiselotte Neumann | Won with birdie on second extra hole Neumann eliminated on first hole |
| 4 | 1996 | Compaq Swedish Open |  Federica DassuKathryn Marshall | Dassu won with par on fourth extra hole Alfredsson eliminated by par on third hole |
| 5 | 2008 | Evian Masters1 | Na Yeon ChoiAngela Park | Won with birdie on third extra hole Park eliminated by birdie on first hole |
Note: Alfredsson wonThe Evian Championship (formerly named theEvian Masters) three times before it was recognized as a major championship on the LPGA Tour in 2013. One of those wins was after the Evian Masters was co-sanctioned with the LPGA Tour in 2000. Alfredsson won the Women's British Open once before it was co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour in 1994 and recognized as a major championship on the LPGA Tour in 2001.
Note:
Sources:[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 Nov 1991 | Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open[31][32] | −12 (70-67-67=204) | 5 strokes | Wu Ming-yeh |
| 2 | 15 Nov 1992 | Itoki Classic[33] | −16 (64-68-68=200) | 5 strokes |  Ayako Okamoto |
| 3 | 16 Nov 1997 | Itoen Ladies[34] | −8 (68-71-69=208) | Playoff | Akemi Yamaoka |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 Feb 1991 | Queensland Open[35] | +3 (71-75-73=219) | 1 stroke | Sherrin Smyers |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 Jul 1986 | SM Trygg-Hansa Cup (as an amateur) | 4 & 3 | Sofia Grönberg-Whitmore | |
| 2 | 26 Jul 1987 | SM Trygg-Hansa Cup (2) (as an amateur) | 6 & 4 | Cecilia Lundin | |
| 3 | 2 Jul 1988 | Swedish Matchplay Championship (as an amateur) | 3 & 2 | Carin Koch | |
| 4 | 24 Jul 1988 | Swedish International Trygg-Hansa Open (as an amateur) | +2 (69-74-70-77=290) | 8 strokes | Sofia Grönberg Whitmore |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 Nov 1991 | Benson & Hedges Trophy (team withAnders Forsbrand)[36] | −13 (73-66-68-68=275) | 2 strokes | Penny Grice-Whittaker andMalcolm MacKenzie,Pearl Sinn andBryan Norton |
| 2 | 18 Oct 1992 | Sunrise Cup World Team Championship (team withLiselotte Neumann)[37] | +13 (146-146-153=445) | 2 strokes | England −Laura Davies /Trish Johnson |
| Legend |
|---|
| Legends Tour major championships (2) |
| Other Legends Tour (0) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 May2019 | U.S. Senior Women's Open[14] | +1 (75-69-69-72=285) | 2 strokes | Juli InksterTrish Johnson |
| 2 | 16 Oct2019 | Senior LPGA Championship[16] | −2 (72-72-70=214) | 3 strokes | Juli Inkster |
| Year | Championship | Winning score | Margin | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Nabisco Dinah Shore | −4 (69-71-72-72=284) | 2 strokes | Tina Barrett,Amy Benz,Betsy King |
| Tournament | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | T49 | 1 | T48 | CUT | T48 | T54 | T3 | T10 | T57 | |
| LPGA Championship | T5 | CUT | T35 | T38 | CUT | T67 | T51 | CUT | CUT | |
| U.S. Women's Open | CUT | T13 | T2 | T9 | T40 | CUT | T48 | T13 | T12 | CUT |
| du Maurier Classic | T28 | T8 | T31 | T9 | CUT | T14 | T34 | CUT | T40 |
| Tournament | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | T46 | T45 | T64 | T40 | T35 | T8 | T37 | T21 | T12 |
| LPGA Championship | 9 | CUT | CUT | T61 | CUT | CUT | CUT | T57 | |
| U.S. Women's Open | T26 | DQ | CUT | T23 | CUT | 2 | WD | ||
| Women's British Open ^ | T64 | T40 | T61 | T60 | T42 | CUT | CUT | T56 | CUT |
| Tournament | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | CUT | CUT | ||
| LPGA Championship | T42 | |||
| U.S. Women's Open | CUT | |||
| Women's British Open | CUT | CUT | ||
| The Evian Championship ^^ | CUT | |||
^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.
^^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DQ = disqualified
WD = withdrew
T = tied
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 17 |
| LPGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 9 |
| U.S. Women's Open | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 19 | 10 |
| du Maurier Classic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 7 |
| Women's British Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 6 |
| The Evian Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 18 | 78 | 49 |
| Year | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | U.S. Senior Women's Open | +1 (75-69-69-72=285) | 2 strokes | Juli InksterTrish Johnson |
| 2019 | Senior LPGA Championship | −2 (72-72-70=214) | 3 strokes | Juli Inkster |
Amateur
Professional
Helen Alfredsson at theSolheim Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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