Minea Blomqvist-Kakko
Blomqvist at the 2013 Women's British Open
Personal information
NicknameMinni
Born (1985-03-12) 12 March 1985
Espoo, Finland
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Sporting nationality Finland
SpouseRoope Kakko
ChildrenElmo
Career
Turned professional2003
Current tour(s)Ladies European Tour (joined 2004)
LPGA Tour (joined 2006)
Professional wins7
Number of wins by tour
Ladies European Tour2
Other5
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipT47: 2008
Women's PGA C'shipT25: 2006
U.S. Women's OpenT27: 2008
Women's British OpenT8: 2004
Evian ChampionshipDNP
Achievements and awards
Ladies European Tour
Rookie of the Year		2004
Nedbank Women's Golf Tour
Order of Merit		2004

Minea "Minni" Blomqvist, (born 12 March 1985 in Espoo, Finland) is a professional golfer who played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour in the early 2000s. She won twice on the Ladies European Tour.

Amateur career

Blomqvist was a member of the Finnish National Ladies Team from 2001 to 2003 and played in the 2002 Espirito Santo Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships.[1] She was a two-time member of the European PING Junior Solheim Cup Team in 2002 and 2003[2] winning all her matches in the winning 2003 side[3] and she represented Europe in the 2003 Vagliano Trophy.

She played as an amateur on the Swedish Golf Tour four times in 2000 and 2001 missing the cut each time.[4][5] In 2002, she played in three Swedish Golf Tour events and recorded two top twenty finishes plus a win at the Sparbanken Ladies Open.[6] In 2003, she played in five Swedish Golf Tour tournaments, recorded two runner up finishes plus a win at the CA Ladies Trophy,[7] and was named Telia Tour Player of the Year.[8]

Professional career

Blomqvist turned professional late in 2003 and in 2004 claimed her maiden victory in only her second tournament as a professional at the Pam Golding Ladies International on the Nedbank Women's Golf Tour in South Africa[9] following this up with a win in the Telkom Women's Classic a week later.[10] These results meant she finished top of the Nedbank Women's Golf Tour Order of Merit for 2004.[11]

Having finished 36th at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School in 2003,[7] Blomqvist had conditional status for 2004 when making her Ladies European Tour debut in Tenerife where she finished fourth.[12] She won her maiden LET tournament later in the year in Hungary[13] and gained her first top ten finish in a major at the Women's British Open during which she shot a record low score of 62.[14] She had five other top twenty LET finishes in 2004 together with another win at the Öijared Ladies Open on the Telia Tour[15] and was the LET Rookie of the Year.[16]

At the start of 2005 she teamed with Riikka Hakkarainen to represent Finland at the inaugural Women's World Cup of Golf.[17] On the Ladies European Tour she posted 11 top-20 finishes, including back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Ladies English Open[18] and the OTP Bank Ladies Central European Open[19] and earned non-exempt status for the 2006 LPGA Tour season by tying for 34th at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.[20]

At the start of 2006 she again teamed with Riikka Hakkarainen to represent Finland at the Women's World Cup of Golf.[21] She concentrated on playing on the LPGA tour in 2006 ending the season with a best finish of 24th and 102nd on the money list.

In 2008 Blomqvist added another success to her résumé. By winning the Finnair Masters she became the first Finn to triumph in that event.[22] Another notable achievement was finishing tied as a runner-up at the rain-shortened Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika, where she played her last round in 63 strokes.[23] On LPGA Tour her best finish was 3rd place at the Safeway International.[24]

Personal

Blomqvist gave birth to her son Elmo 31 March 2010. The father is Roope Kakko, which she married on New Year's Eve 2011.[25][26]

Professional wins (7)

Ladies European Tour (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 18 Jul 2004 Ladies Central European Open −14 (62-67-70=199) 4 strokes New Zealand Gina Scott
Sweden Emma Zackrisson
2 29 Aug 2008 Finnair Masters −11 (69-68-65=202) 1 stroke Finland Ursula Wikström

Swedish Golf Tour (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 7 Sep 2002 Sparbanken Ladies Open
(as an amateur)		 −2 (72-70-72=214) 1 stroke Sweden Sara Eklund
2 27 May 2003 CA Ladies Trophy
(as an amateur)		 +2 (72-74=146) 3 strokes Sweden Emelie Leijon
Sweden Erica Steen
3 4 Sep 2004 Öijared Ladies Open −6 (74-65-71=210) 1 stroke Finland Ursula Wikström

^ Shortened to 36 holes due to weather

Nedbank Women's Golf Tour (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 25 Mar 2004 Pam Golding Ladies International –3 (71-73-69=213) 1 stroke South Africa Ashleigh Simon (a)
2 1 Apr 2004 Telkom Women's Classic –12 (73-63-68=204) 7 strokes South Africa Ashleigh Simon (a)

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

References

  1. ↑ "World Amateur Team Championship Record Books". IGF (International Golf Federation). Retrieved 12 April 2007.
  2. ↑ Park, Martin (29 August 2003). "Alfredsson named as European Junior Captain". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  3. ↑ Park, Martin (30 October 2003). "Back to school for LET". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 25 October 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  4. ↑ "Telia Tour Results 2000". golf.se. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  5. ↑ "Telia Tour Results 2001". golf.se. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  6. ↑ "Tour Results 2002". golf.se. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  7. 1 2 "Tour Results 2003". golf.se. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  8. ↑ "Minea Blomqvist Player Profile". Ladies European Tour). Archived from the original on 13 November 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  9. ↑ Vlismas, Michael (25 March 2004). "Pam Golding Ladies International". Ladies African Tour. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  10. ↑ Vlismas, Michael (1 April 2004). "Telkom Women's Classic". Ladies African Tour. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  11. ↑ "2004 Order of Merit". Ladies African Tour. 6 April 2004. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  12. ↑ Park, Martin (6 May 2004). "LET heads to Portugal with youthful look". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  13. ↑ Park, Martin (18 July 2004). "Blomqvist secures maiden victory in Hungary". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 25 October 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  14. ↑ Park, Martin (31 July 2004). "Blomqvist makes history at Sunningdale with 62". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  15. ↑ "Tour Results 2004". golf.se. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  16. ↑ Park, Martin (3 October 2004). "Blomqvist wins Rookie of the Year". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 25 October 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  17. ↑ Park, Martin (17 December 2004). "Women's World Cup of Golf: Twenty teams confirmed". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  18. ↑ Cutler, Bethan (10 July 2005). "Hjorth wins back-to-back Ladies English Opens". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 25 October 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  19. ↑ Cutler, Bethan (16 July 2005). "Kreutz claims OTP Bank Central European Open". Ladies European Tour. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  20. ↑ "Full Career Bio" (PDF). LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  21. ↑ "Stellar field for Women's World Cup of Golf". Ladies European Tour. 14 December 2005. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  22. ↑ "Blomqvist wins Finnair Masters on Home Turf". Ladies European Tour. 31 August 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  23. ↑ "Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika Leaderboard". golfdata.se. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
  24. ↑ "Lorena Ochoa pulls away to defend Safeway International title". IHT. 31 March 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  25. ↑ "Minea Blomqvist starts new season as Blomqvist-Kakko" LET, retrieved 2012-01-11. Archived 2012-05-14 at the Wayback Machine
  26. ↑ "Motherhood and Donald Duck big with Finland's Blomqvist". Reuters Canada. 24 June 2011.
  27. ↑ "European Girls' Team Championship – European Golf Association". Retrieved 18 December 2017.
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