Matilda Maria Castren (born 18 January 1995) is a Finnish

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

playing on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

. In 2021 she won the

LPGA Mediheal Championship The LPGA Mediheal Championship is a women's professional golf tournament in California on the LPGA Tour. A new event in 2018, it was held at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, an adjacent suburb south of San Francisco. The course hosted the S ...

to become the first player from Finland to win on the

Career

Castrén won the 2011 Doral Publix Junior Classic in the U.S. and the 2013 Skandia Junior Open in Sweden, and was runner-up at the 2013 Portuguese Ladies Amateur. She represented Finland at the 2011, 2012 and 2013 European Girls' Team Championship, the 2014, 2015 and 2016

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 ...

, and at the 2014 and 2016

Espirito Santo Trophy The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fren ...

. She was also on the winning

Vagliano Trophy The Vagliano Trophy is a biennial women's amateur golf tournament. It is co-organised by The R&A and the European Golf Association and is contested by teams representing "Great Britain and Ireland" and the "Continent of Europe". It is played in o ...

team in 2017. Castrén played college golf at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

beginning in 2014 and graduated in May 2017 with a degree in International Affairs, after winning seven individual titles in collegiate competition during her time with the Florida State Seminoles women's golf team, a school record. She was named second-Team All-American by the Women's Golf Coaches Association and ''Golfweek'' in 2014 and was a three-time All-ACC selection (2014, 2016 and 2017) as one of only three players in school history. She set school record for lowest career stroke average (72.52) over her four-year varsity career. Castrén played two seasons on the

Symetra Tour The Epson Tour, previously known as the LPGA Futures Tour, and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed Futures Tour and between 2012 and 2021 as the Symetra Tour, is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour ...

in 2018 and 2019, before she finished T26 at the

LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

to earn her card for the

2020 LPGA Tour The 2020 LPGA Tour was the 71st edition of the LPGA Tour, a series of professional golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world. The season began at the Four Season Golf Club in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on January 16 and ende ...

. In only six starts she earned enough to qualify via the money list for her first

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

, the 2020 Women's PGA Championship, where she was T9 after a first round of 69 and finished the tournament T23. In her rookie season on the

, she won the 2021

in just her 15th career LPGA Tour start. In July, Castrén claimed her first

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. Most of the players on the tour are European, with members from more than 40 countries internationally. Despite its name, the tour also has tournaments in A ...

(LET) title after she shot a final round of 68 to win the 2021 Gant Ladies Open in her native Finland. She needed to secure a victory on the LET to become a member of the tour and be eligible for the 2021 European Solheim Cup Team.

Amateur wins

*2011 (1) Doral Publix Junior Classic 16-18 *2013 (1) Skandia Junior Open Girls *2014 (2) Florida State Match-Up, Web.com/Marsh Landing Intercollegiate *2015 (1) Jacksonville Classic *2016 (3) Florida Challenge, NCAA Shoal Creek Regional Championships, Jim West Challenge *2017 (1) Clemson Invitational Source:

Professional wins (3)

LPGA Tour wins (1)

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

Symetra Tour wins (1)

Results in LPGA majors

''Results not in chronological order.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
NT = no tournament
T = tied

Team appearances

Amateur * European Girls' Team Championship (representing Finland): 2011, 2012, 2013 *

(representing Finland):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

(representing Finland):

(representing the Continent of Europe): 2017 (winners) Source: Professional *

Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian- American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving forc ...

(representing Europe):

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

(winners)

Solheim Cup record

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castren, Matilda Finnish female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Olympic golfers for Finland Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Florida State Seminoles women's golfers Expatriate golfers in the United States Golfers from Espoo 1995 births Living people 21st-century Finnish sportswomen