Annabel Dimmock dispelled five years outside the winner’s circle on the Ladies European Tour in dramatic fashion at Carton House.
The Englishwoman, who still only had her victory at the Jabra Ladies Open in 2019 to hold on to, beat Pauline Roussin-Bouchard in a playoff at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open. You could see the relief seep from her veins when she holed the winning putt.
Ironically, it was Roussin-Bouchard, in her amateur days, who was runner-up to Dimmock five years ago at an event Dimmock came close to winning in again 2021, losing in a playoff to Pia Babnik that time.
“I’m just shell-shocked and over the moon right now. I have worked really hard to get myself back and I am proud of myself,” she said, having previously spent eight months off the course with injury.
Dimmock’s victory constituted a sensational comeback and down the years in the women’s game, we have seen many stars taste success, spend a sustained period in the doldrums for whatever reason and then rediscover their form. These stories are what make sports what they are.
If you look up comeback in golf’s dictionary, you will probably come across Tiger Woods. After multiple injuries, surgeries and misgivings, Woods sensationally won the 2019 Masters, his 15th major title, 11 years after his 14th.
But storylines like this aren’t exclusive to the men’s game. From Annika Sorenstam to Lydia Ko, some tales prove that some golfers never lose that winning ability. Following Dimmock’s magical moment, we have looked back at the greatest comebacks in the women’s game. Which stars have entered barren years and experienced glory again?
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Best women’s golf comebacks
Ariya Jutanugarn
In 2007, Ariya Jutanugarn became the youngest ever player to qualify for an LPGA Tour event at the age of 11. She earned her first tour card in 2015, securing her first victory one year later at the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic.
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In the same year, Jutanugarn won her first major title at Woburn, coasting to a three-shot victory at the Women’s British Open and well on her way to becoming LPGA Player of the Year.
She chalked the same accolade in 2018 when she won the US Women’s Open at Shoal Creek Club in Alabama. Jutanugarn also won the Kingsmill Championship that year plus the Scottish Open.
But the former World No.1 went winless in 2019 and 2020 during a form slump and later admitted she’d considered quitting golf, quite the contrast with her vast success of years before.
She earned her first win in three years at the Honda LPGA Thailand in 2021 having contemplated giving up the sport not long before.
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Lydia Ko
For the majority of her career, Lydia Ko has been foot-perfect and outstanding. She turned professional in 2013 and won three times on the LPGA Tour in 2014. She reached World No.1 at the age of 17, becoming the youngest player in both the men’s and women’s spheres to reach the rankings summit.
Her first major came at the Evian Championship in 2015, then her second at the ANA Inspiration in 2016. Ko was 15 wins into her illustrious career when she began a three-year winless streak which seemed to arrive from nowhere.
She had nine top 10s in the next two years, but no wins. Ko finally broke this barren spell in 2021 at the Lotte Championship in Hawaii.
“I think when you’re in that position and it doesn’t happen you do doubt. If I said no I didn’t doubt myself at all I think that would be a lie,” she said. “Hand on my heart, I know there were times that I wondered, ‘Hey, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be back in the winner’s circle’.
“But I’m obviously grateful for everything that has happened in my career, and I believe that we’re in the position that we’re meant to be in.”
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Annika Sorenstam
Annika Sorenstam called time on her long and illustrious career on the LPGA Tour in 2008. She’d won 72 times, a huge number, which included 10 major titles with her first coming at the 1995 US Women’s Open at Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado.
The legendary Swede turned 50 in October 2020 and the following year, she made a sensational comeback to the LPGA Tour, coming 74th at the 2021 Gainbridge LPGA. But the highlight of the year was to come at the US Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Connecticut.
Sorenstam won the tournament by a staggering eight shots with her husband Mike McGee caddying for her. Her competitive edge and quality hadn’t faded 13 years after initially closing the book on her career.
“It’s really hard to describe. I think the joy and the happy tears, the moments, the journey, the shots, the friends, the family, everything has been great. When we came here, we saw you about a month ago, and I just loved the place from the start. To come here, we stayed with some great friends around the corner. Things have kind of just been lining up.”
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Se Ri Pak
Se Ri Pak became the youngest-ever US Women’s Open winner in 1998 at the age of 20, and won the Women’s PGA Championship in the same year. It is the latter tournament where she was able to build a large portion of her legacy.
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She won it again in 2002 and in 2006, but her third title at the event came after a two-year winless spell, a stretch alien from her previous successes on the LPGA Tour. Between 1998 and 2004, Pak won 22 times but she began to fall out of love with the game.
The South Korean eliminated her demons at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Maryland, beating the legendary Karrie Webb in a playoff. It was her fifth major title, but she reflected on her struggles of the previous year in the aftermath.
Speaking to the media, Pak spoke of how stressed she felt on the golf course at one stage, detailing how she didn’t like the sport and questioned why she was even re-visiting the course to practice. This only exemplified just how impressive her comeback at the 2006 Women’s PGA was.
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