Suzann Pettersen: Player Profile
Who is Suzann Pettersen?
Suzann Pettersen is one of the best European golfers of the 21st Century, having won two majors and become a Solheim Cup legend.
The Norwegian was born in Oslo in 1981, who picked up the game early on and played her first tournament at the age of 6. She was a five-time Norwegian Amateur Champion, Girls Amateur Championship winner and turned professional at the age of 19.
Pettersen won her maiden Ladies European Tour title a year later, claiming the Open de France Dames title. She then had to wait until 2007 for her next victory, but she would go on to win six times that year, including her first major title. That came at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship (now the Women’s PGA Championship).
Six years on, the Norwegian doubled her major tally, with a victory at the Evian Championship in 2013. She won by two strokes from New Zealand’s Lydia Ko. In total, Pettersen finished her career with 21 professional titles, 15 of those coming on the LPGA Tour.
She made her Solheim Cup debut in 2002, and went on to play in nine editions of the premiere women’s team competition. Pettersen won an incredible 21 points from 36 matches, and sank the winning putt at the 2019 Solheim Cup. She was the captain for the 2023 edition of the event in Andalucia as Europe retained the trophy in the first ever 14-14 draw in the competition’s history.
Suzann Pettersen | An Overview
Personal Information
Name: Suzann Pettersen
Born: April 7, 1981
Nationality: Norway
Residence: Orlando, Florida, United States
Career
Turned Pro: 2000
Professional Wins: 21
Highest World Ranking: 2 – December 31, 2007
Best Results In Majors
Best Finishes:
– Chevron Championship – T2/2nd (2007, 2008, 2010)
– Women’s PGA Championship – WON (2007)
– US Women’s Open – T2 (2010)
– Evian Championship – WON (2013)
– AIG Women’s Open – T2 (2014)
Professional Wins – 21
2001 (1) – Open de France Dames
2007 (6) – Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill, McDonald’s LPGA Championship, SAS Masters, Longs Drugs Challenge, Hana Bank-KOLON Championship, Honda LPGA Thailand
2008 (2) – Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open, AIB Ladies Irish Open
2009 (1) – CN Canadian Women’s Open
2011 (3) – Sybase Match Play Championship, Ladies Irish Open, Safeway Classic
2012 (2) – LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship, Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship
2013 (5) – Mission Hills World Ladies Championship, LPGA Lotte Championship, Safeway Classic, Evian Championship, Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship
2015 (1) – Manulife LPGA Classic
Achievements and Awards
Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year – 2001
Ladies European Tour Order of Merit Winner – 2013
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Suzann Pettersen
When and where was Suzann Pettersen born?
Suzann Pettersen was born in Oslo, Norway in 1981. She took up golf from an early age, and played in her first tournament at the age of 6.
When did Suzann Pettersen turn professional?
Pettersen turned professional in 2000 after a successful amateur career in which she won the Norwegian Amateur Championship five times and represented her country in the Espirito Santo Trophy on two occasions. She won her first Ladies European Tour title a year after turning professional.
How many major titles has Suzann Pettersen won?
Pettersen is a two-time major champion. Her first major victory came at the 2007 McDonald’s LPGA Championship (now the Women’s PGA Championship), but she had to wait six years before her second. That came at the Evian Championship in 2013. She has also finished runner-up at the other three majors. Pettersen has a total of 21 professional titles, with 15 of those coming on the LPGA Tour.
Who is Suzann Pettersen married to?
Pettersen’s husband is Christian Ringvold. The pair got married in January 2017, with Pettersen giving birth to their first child shortly after. They now have two children together.
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Did you Know?
Amateur Success
Pettersen was a five-time Norwegian Amateur Champion, winning in successive years from 1996 to 2000. She also won the Girls Amateur Championship in 1999. The Norwegian represented her country at the World Amateur Team Championships and the Espirito Santo Trophy in 1998 and 2000, finishing as the leading individual in her second appearance in the latter. Pettersen also represented Europe in the 1997 and 1999 Junior Ryder Cup Matches.
Perfect Retirement Party
Pettersen returned to golf after giving birth to her first child, and she was picked by Catriona Matthew for the European team at the 2019 Solheim Cup. She would soon ride off into the sunset in the perfect way though, sinking the winning putt at Gleneagles before announcing her retirement.
Solheim Cup Legend
The Norwegian can safely be described as a legend of the Solheim Cup, having played in nine editions of the competition. She made her debut in 2002 and a year later, she won all four of her pairs matches. She returned in 2019 after missing the previous edition, and the rest is history. Pettersen has 21 points from 36 matches over nine editions of the tournament.
Major Class
Along with her two major titles, Pettersen has also finished runner-up at the other three major championships. She is a three-time runner-up at the Chevron Championship, having finished either T2 or 2nd in 2007, 2008 and 2010. She also came runner-up at the US Women’s Open in the latter year, before finishing T2 at the AIG Women’s Open in 2014.
Other Suzann Pettersen Articles
The Slam: Who will be the star of Solheim Cup week?
Get to know Suzann Pettersen – Europe’s Solheim Cup captain
Suzann Pettersen: Why I’m not taking Tiger Woods’ joke personally
How good has Suzann Pettersen been for women’s golf? Let us know your thoughts with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
Matt Coles
Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…
Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.
He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.
Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…
Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.
