Maybe We Should Take Caroline Hedwall Seriously

Unless you keep up with the LET, you may not know who Caroline Hedwall is.

I suspect you will by the time the Solheim Cup is over. The 22-year-old Swedish rookie is 2-0-0 after her first day of competition. Since I want to keep this post short -- lots of golf on TV this weekend! -- I thought I'd give you a quick bio since I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her soon.

First of all, she lives in Löddeköpinge, Sweden. (I can't even say that and won't try. Sometimes I'm glad blogs are written, not spoken.) But like many European players, she went to school in America -- in Caroline's case, at Oklahoma State University.

Her amateur career is as impressive as any you'll see. Starting in Europe, she won:

• 2007 European Amateur Championship
• 2008 European Team Championship
• 2008 World Amateur Championship
• 2009 European Amateur Championship
• 2010 European Team Championship

At Oklahoma State she was:

• 2009 First-Team All-American
• 2009 Big 12 Player of the Year
• 2010 First-Team All-American
  
• 2010 Big 12 Player of the Year 
• 2010 NCAA Individual Champion
• 2010 NGCA Player of the Year
• 2010 Golfstat Cup Winner

Then she turned pro and won the LET Q-School by 9 shots. And she's won five times so far in 2011:

• ALPG New South Wales Open
• LET Allianz Ladies Slovak Open
• LET Finnair Masters
• LET UNIQA Ladies Golf Open
• And, although it's not an official win, she also won the PowerPlay Golf IGNITION Tournament. That was a mixed event, and she beat some folks like Gary Player, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, and Paula Creamer. Not a bad showing for a rookie!

And now she's coming up big as a Captain's Pick at the Solheim Cup.

You might want to get used to her name. This week won't be the last time you hear it.

The photo is from LPGA.com and much of the info came from her Wikipedia page, simply because I'm in a hurry today!