“Pernilla Lindberg’s mixed feelings on the move of her favorite major”

It was during the LPGA tour competition in California a couple of weeks ago that Pernilla Lindberg got food poisoning and passed out on Friday morning.

– My husband heard the noise and found me on the bathroom floor at 6 am. It was scary, she says.

The drama could reasonably have put an end to Lindberg in the competition, but instead she slept for a couple of hours on that bathroom floor (“it was cold and nice there”) before she went to the course and played 18 holes.

– The fact that I went out and played then, passed the “cut” and played the whole weekend felt like a win, even if I only finished 47th.

Pernilla Lindberg has enjoyed the LPGA tour as its home since 2010, mostly without making the biggest headlines. Over the years, she has gambled a little more than three million dollars, but the only victory remains the sensational triumph of the 2018 ANA Inspiration.

A victory that at the same time immortalized her because it was a major.

– I often think back to those days. It was one such week when it felt like I was really in the zone, says Lindberg.

ANA Inspiration died when the competition changed its name to the Chevron Championship last year. The new sponsor, which has raised the total prize money from $3 million to $5.1 million, also wanted to move the major from the classic Mission Hills course in California to the energy company’s hometown of Houston starting this year.

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If we want to grow and make the competition bigger, it was unfortunately a necessary evil.

So it had to be, “money talks”. And that’s why Lindberg is now standing in the shade under some pine trees in Texas, talking about her mixed feelings about the move of her favorite major.

– We know that it was difficult to attract a new sponsor to Mission Hills and if we want to grow and make the competition bigger, with more prize money, it was unfortunately a necessary evil. But of course it’s boring and I think it’s extra boring. Even before I won there, I said it was my favorite track on the tour.

Did you shed a tear when you found out?

– I didn’t do it, but the feelings were absolutely like that.

– We had been there 51 years in a row. Now it’s just a matter of hoping that you can build something that becomes legendary here instead, so that you don’t start jumping around too much.

“Here is more specifically The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, a few miles north of Houston. A course designed by Jack Nicklaus, with many water hazards, and where practically every hole is surrounded by fashionable monster cabins.

Pernilla Lindberg got to go to the former champions’ dinner on Monday evening, where star chef Thomas Keller was responsible for the menu. And then she gets to drive a Bentley to and from the track during race week.

– It is a special feeling to come to a competition and be a “past champion”, even if it feels different to show up here and not in California, she says.

Lindberg has turned 36 and will “give everything” this year and next. Then she will see, maybe her career is over then.

Before the Major, who begins on Thursday, she does not have a feeling that the best is behind her. A change of coach last year gave a new spark and the game feels better than in a very long time, even if Lindberg is still waiting for new top positions.

– As good as the game feels, I at least want to get one more victory on the tour, to prove that I wasn’t a “one hit wonder”.

– And on a week like this, I remind myself that I have won on the biggest stage. Now I feel like I’m a better golfer than in 2018 and that gives me confidence.