Denmark’s Emily Pedersen joined an elite club of women golfers who have won a men’s professional tour event last week when she claimed the Bravo Tours Open by Enjoy Resorts title.
The 24-year-old carded rounds of 66 and 67 in the €30,000 Ecco Tour event to finish on 11-under-par and triumph by one stroke over Oliver Suhr at Romo Golf Club in Denmark. Four golfers tied for third on nine-under-par, including 2019 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open winner Rasmus Højgaard and another lady pro, Nanna Koerstz Madsen.
Perdersen and Madsen were among nine women in the 82-player field, joined by fellow Danish pros Linette Littau Dűr Holmslykke (T30), Nicole Broch Larsen (T30), Fie Kjaergaard Olsen (T34), Cecilie Bofill (T68) and Line Toft Hansen (71), and amateurs Marie Lund-Hansen (T23) and Cecilie Finne-Ipsen (42).
The Ecco Tour is a Danish-based professional circuit with tournaments in Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Spain.
According to lpga.com, only two women have won men’s events to-date – Suzy Whaley at the 2002 Connecticut PGA Section Championship and Lydia Hall at the 2016 Welsh National PGA Championship. Women have a long if sparse history of competing with men, starting with LPGA co-founder Babe Zaharias played in the 1938 and 1945 Los Angeles Opens, making the cut in the latter as well as two more PGA Tour events that year. Others who have broken the gender barrier include Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie, Pak Se Ri and Brittany Lincicome, with only Pak managing to make the cut at the 2003 SBS Open in her native Korea.
“It shows that all the work I put in is paying off. It’s been a tough few years, so it’s really nice to see that my game is improving and it feels great to win again,” said Pedersen, whose only other professional win came at the 2015 Hero Women’s Indian Open.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a position where I’ve played for the win. I just had to get used to being a little nervous again, but that’s what we train for,” added the 2017 European Solheim Cup player.
