Karina Ørum (born 29 May 1967) is a Danish

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 ...

. She was the first Danish member of the Ladies European Tour, where she finished runner-up four times 1993–1997 and narrowly missed out on a

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 force b ...

place.

Early life and amateur career

Ørum grew up the step-daughter to Peter Dangerfield, an English professional golfer who moved to Denmark as a club pro in the late 1970s. Her mother Lene ran the pro shop at the courses where the family worked; Furesø and Gilleleje Golf Clubs north of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Korsør Golf Club on the west coast of

Sjaelland Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

, and at Herning Golf Club on

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

. Ørum played on the National Team and represented Denmark at the

1989 European Ladies' Team Championship The 1989 European Ladies' Team Championship took place 5–9 July at Golf de Pals in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the 16th women's golf amateur European Ladies' Team Championship. Venue The hosting course, situated in northern Spain, outs ...

in Spain, where Denmark lost to England in the quarter-final. At the 1989 Nordic Championships in Hudiksvall, Sweden, she won the team title as well as the individual strokeplay title.

Professional career

Ørum turned professional in 1991 and joined the Ladies European Tour. In 1993, she was runner-up at the

VAR 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 tit ...

, one stroke behind home player

Marie-Laure de Lorenzi Marie-Laure de Lorenzi (born 21 January 1961, in Biarritz) is a French professional golfer. She is also known by her married name Marie-Laure Taya, and competed using that name until midway through 1989 when she reverted to her maiden name. De ...

, and was presented with the "Best Dressed" LET Player season award. In 1994, Ørum led the

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 ...

by 2 strokes with 9 holes to go, but finished runner-up one stroke behind

Laura Davies Dame Laura Jane Davies, (born 5 October 1963) is an English female professional golfer. She has achieved the status of her nation's most accomplished female golfer of modern times, being the first non-American to finish at the top of the LPGA ...

, who clinched her 31st career title. Ørum finished the season 10th in the Order of Merit, and was awarded with ''Den Gyldne Golfbold'' as Danish Golfer of the Year. Ørum played well over the next three seasons and finished 13th on the LET Order of Merit in 1995, 17th in 1996 and 19th in 1997. She was in contention at the 1995

Ladies English Open The Ladies English Open was a women's professional golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour. It was first held between 1991 and 1996, when it was dominated by Laura Davies who won four of the five tournaments played. It was re-established in 20 ...

, but again ended runner-up one stroke behind

. At the 1997 LET season opener, the Estoril Ladies Open in Portugal, Ørum finished runner-up one stroke behind

Mandy Sutton Mandy or Mandie may refer to: People * Mandy (name), a female given name and nickname * Iván Mándy (1918-1995), Hungarian writer * Mark Mandy (born 1972), Irish retired high jumper * Philip Mandie (born 1942), a former judge on the Supreme Co ...

of Ireland. In 2000, her last full LET season, she finished 78th in the rankings. Ørum caused a stir when she played at the 1998 Australian Ladies Open at Yarra Yarra Golf Club while seven months pregnant with her first son Thanda (a Zulu word meaning love), and again in 2002, almost eight months pregnant. She had to modify her technique with the baby bulge but quipped to the press "It's probably no different to swinging around a giant beer gut."

Personal life

Ørum and her Australian partner settled at Hope Island on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

Amateur wins

*1989 Nordic Amateur Strokeplay Championship

Team appearances

Amateur *Nordic Ladies' Team Championship (representing Denmark): 1989 (winners) *

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 pla ...

(representing Denmark): 1989

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orum, Karina Danish female golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Sportspeople from Copenhagen 1967 births Living people