Caroline Afonso (born 20 February 1985) is a retired French professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er who played on the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal str ...

(LET) 2008–2016. She was runner-up twice on the LET and won three

LET Access Series The LET Access Series (LETAS) is a professional golf tour for women and the official development tour to the Ladies European Tour. Launched in 2010, the LET Access Series provides players with an opportunity to compete and progress on to the LET. ...

events.

Career

Afonso started playing golf at 10 and was coached by Philippe Mendiburu, father of LET player

Sandrine Mendiburu Sandrine Mendiburu (born 15 October 1972) is a retired French professional golfer. In 1999 Mendiburu recorded back-to-back wins on the Ladies European Tour, winning the Donegal Irish Ladies' Open in a four-way a playoff and Ladies Hannover Expo 2 ...

. She won the French Ladies Amateur Championship twice and was ranked best amateur in France 2007. Afonso turned professional at the end of 2007 and joined the

on her first attempt in 2008, where she in her rookie year recorded top-10 finishes at

Ladies Scottish Open The Trust Golf Women's Scottish Open is a women's professional golf tournament in Scotland on the Ladies European Tour (LET). First played in 1986, it became a regular fixture on the tour schedule in 2010. Since 2017 it has been co-sanctioned ...

and

Austrian Ladies Open The Austrian Ladies Open was a professional golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. L ...

, and ended the season 44th in the Order of Merit. She recorded further top-10 finishes at the Finnair Masters in 2009 and Ladies German Open, Tenerife Ladies Open and

Open de France Feminin The Open de France Dames is a women's professional golf tournament in France on the Ladies European Tour. It has been played annually since 1987, with four exceptions: 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1998. Since the 2011 edition, Lacoste has been the titl ...

in 2010. In March 2010 Afonso earned the distinction of winning the inaugural tournament of the

, the Terre Blanche Ladies Open, securing her first professional win. She won again in July at the La Nivelle Ladies Open, and won the 2010 LET Access Series Order of Merit ahead of Jade Schaeffer. On the

2011 Ladies European Tour The 2011 Ladies European Tour was a series of golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world which took place from February through December 2011. The tournaments were sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour (LET). The tour featu ...

Afonso had her most successful season, finishing third at the

, runner-up one stroke behind Melissa Reid at the

Dutch Ladies Open The Dutch Ladies Open is a women's professional golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour that is played in the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , ...

, and sole runner-up behind

Caroline Hedwall Caroline Ingrid Hedwall (born 13 May 1989) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LPGA Tour. In 2013 she became the first player to win five matches in a single Solheim Cup event. As an amateur she w ...

at the

, to end 27th in the Order of Merit. In 2012 she brought her LETAS tally on home soil to three by winning the Fourqueux Ladies Open. Afonso played in the

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a major championship in women's professional golf. It is recognised by both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and 2011, and received a wild card to the

2014 Evian Championship The 2014 Evian Championship was played 11–14 September at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains, France. It was the 21st Evian Championship (the first 19 played as the Evian Masters), and the second as a major championship on the LP ...

, but never made the cut in a major championship. At the end of 2016 Afonso announced that she was retiring from tour.

Amateur wins

*1999 French Ladies Amateur Championship *2007 French Ladies Amateur Championship Source:

Professional wins (3)

LET Access Series wins (3)

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Ladies' Team Championship The European Ladies' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1959. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been pl ...

(representing France):

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Afonso, Caroline French female golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Sportspeople from Biarritz 1985 births Living people 21st-century French women