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Volvo Cross Country Challenge

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Volvo Cross Country Challenge
Tournament information
Established2005
Tour(s)Ladies European Tour
Prize fund$120,000
$1,000,000 (bonus)
Volvo XC70
Final year2007
Final champion
England Kiran Matharu

The Volvo Cross Country Challenge was a women's professional golf series on the Ladies European Tour. It was a separate dedicated yearly order of merit for events in the Nordic region and held each year from 2005 to 2007.

The winner of the challenge received a Volvo car and prize money. The 18-year-old Kiran Matharu from Leeds, England, had yet to learn to drive when she won the Challenge and a brand new Volvo XC70 in 2007.[1]

Participation

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To qualify, players had to participate in at least three out of four of the LET tournaments hosted in Nordic countries:

  1. Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika (Sweden)
  2. SAS Masters (Norway)
  3. Finnair Masters (Finland)
  4. Nykredit Masters (Denmark)

Prize money collected in these tournaments were added up in a "Volvo XC Challenge Order-of-Merit". The top ten players on this Order-of-Merit shared a prize fund of $120,000.

In addition, players could get $1,000,000 bonus by winning all four of the above tournaments in one season.[2]

Winners

[edit]
Year Winner Points Ref.
2007 England Kiran Matharu 280 [3]
2006 England Laura Davies 577.5 [4][5][6][7]
2005 Sweden Cecilia Ekelundh 307 [8][9][10]

Order of Merit

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The winners were determined by an Order of Merit based on results in the four tournaments, calculated using a points-based system.

2005

[edit]
Pos. Player Tournaments Tmts Total
Sweden Norway Finland Denmark Money Points
1 Sweden Cecilia Ekelundh T25
N
O
T

H
E
L
D
T2
157
3
150
3 34,508 307
2 Denmark Iben Tinning T18
T16
4
1st
300
3 39,310 304
3 Denmark Lisa Holm Sorensen T49
1st
300
T61
4 33,020 300
4 Norway Suzann Pettersen 6
70
T2
177
3 32,533 247
5 Sweden Lora Fairclough T38
T12
27.5
2
275
3 27,398 227.5

2006

[edit]
Pos. Player Tournaments Tmts Total
Sweden Norway Finland Denmark Money Points
1 England Laura Davies T5
80
1st
300
T11
22.5
T2
175
4 69,855 577.5
2 France Virginie Lagoutte T34
T3
135
1st
300
T12
17.5
4 49,550 452.5
3 Denmark Karen Margrethe Juul T23
T11
11
T6
48
1st
300
4 44,195 359
4 France Gwladys Nocera 4
120
T11
11
T3
135
T8
40
4 46,942 306
5 Sweden Annika Sörenstam 1st
300
1 75,000 300

2007

[edit]
Pos. Player Tournaments Tmts Total
Sweden Norway Finland Denmark Money Points
1 France Kiran Matharu T28
T4
105
T2
175
3 32,145 280
2 Sweden Lotta Wahlin T60
T34
3
150
4
120
4 28,090 270
3 Sweden Johanna Westerberg T58
T6
60
2
200
T19
4 31,263 260
4 England Kirsty Taylor T39
T33
2
200
3 22,738 175
5 Italy Diana Luna T97
T3
135
T10
25
3 15,884 160
  Win
  Top 5
  Made points cut
 Did not play

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Kiran Matharu wins the Volvo Challenge". 9 September 2007. Archived from the original on 22 April 2015.
  2. ^ "LET and Volvo in new sponsorship deal". GolfToday.
  3. ^ Ladies European Tour. "Matharu wins Volvo Cross Country Challenge".
  4. ^ Ladies European Tour. "Davies wins 2006 Volvo Cross Country Challenge".
  5. ^ Ladies European Tour. "2006 Volvo Cross Country Challenge".
  6. ^ Ladies European Tour (23 August 2006). "Davies and Pettersen headline SAS Masters".
  7. ^ Ladies European Tour (30 August 2006). "Davies heads strong field for Finnair Masters".
  8. ^ Ladies European Tour. "Ekelundh receives her Volvo XC70".
  9. ^ Ladies European Tour. "2006 Volvo Cross Country Challenge".
  10. ^ "Ekelundh rullar mot toppen" [Ekelundh rolls to the top]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 10. October 2005. p. 113. Retrieved 16 October 2023.