Matilda Castren made golf history on Sunday by becoming the first Finnish player ever to win on the LPGA Tour. Although born in New York City, Castren was raised in Finland, before returning to the United States where she attended Florida State University in 2013.
Castren’s title came at the Mediheal Championship in Daly City, California. The city is named after John Daly. However this John Daly was a Boston businessman who died in 1923, and not the famous American golfer who won the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 British Open.
Castren posted a four-round score of -14 over four rounds of competition, and beat Min Lee of Taiwan by two strokes. Lee, who was at -12, was the only other golfer in contention.
Over the four rounds, Castren posted scores of one-under-par 71 in the first round, three-under-par 69 in the second round, three-under-par 69 in the third round, and seven-under-par in the fourth round. In the final round, Castren had birdies on the first, second, third, ninth, and 18th holes, and an eagle on the par-five fifth hole.
It was a huge weekend in Finnish sport. On Saturday, Finland won its first game ever at the European Soccer Championship in their very first game in the history of the tournament. In a game where the sports world was focused on the health of Danish attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen of Inter Milan who collapsed in the first half, it was Finland who scored when the game resumed and came away with a historic 1-0 victory in Copenhagen, thanks to a goal by Joel Pohjanpalo.
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