Maria Anna Hjorth (born 15 October 1973) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

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 ...

Early years

Hjorth was born in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabita ...

. As the youngest of three daughters to Kjell and Monica Hjorth, she first gripped a golf club at three years of age. Six years old, she traveled with her family, to compete in the unofficial Swedish Championship for children, the Colgate Cup, for girls up to 10 years of age. After the round, her older sister helped her to count the score.

Nordic skiing Nordic skiing encompasses the various types of skiing in which the toe of the ski boot is fixed to the Ski binding, binding in a manner that allows the heel to rise off the ski, unlike alpine skiing, where the boot is attached to the ski from toe ...

was a main interest during winter time. At ten years of age, Hjorth also began playing

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

and later became the youngest ever individual winner of the Swedish Championship in curling. On the golf course, she usually practiced with older boys, why she soon find it easier to play from the men's tees. During her amateur career she always represented Falun-Borlänge Golf Club.

Amateur career

Hjorth won many individual amateur titles including the 1995

European Ladies Amateur Championship The European Ladies Amateur Championship is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is organized by the European Golf Association and is one of the "elite" tournaments recognized by the World Amateur Golf Ranking The World Amateur Golf Ranking for men ...

at Wannsee, Berlin, Germany. She represented Sweden twice at the

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 Fre ...

. In 1992 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, with

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 inter ...

on the team, Sweden finished fourth. In 1994 at Golf National in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the Swedish team finished as bronze medalists. Hjorth was also part of the winning Swedish team at the 1994

European Lady Junior's Team Championship The European Lady Junior's Team Championship was a European amateur team golf championship for women under 22 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1968. It was played every year until 1984, then every second y ...

at Gutenhof Golf Club,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Hjorth attended the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built w ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Professional career

Hjorth turned professional in 1996 and won the

Swedish Golf Tour The Swedish Golf Tour (currently known as the MoreGolf Mastercard Tour for sponsorship reasons), is a developmental professional golf formerly operated by Svenska Golftourerna AB, owned equally by the Swedish Golf Federation and the PGA of Swede ...

Order of Merit that year. She played mainly on the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

(LET) in 1996 and 1997. In late 1997, she finished fourth at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to gain exempt status on the U.S.-based

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

for the 1998 season. Since 1998 she has played mainly on

, while continuing to play in Europe several times each year. She has won two individual titles on the LET and five on the LPGA. Winning her second LPGA title in 1999, the

Mizuno Classic The Toto Japan Classic is an annual women's professional golf tournament in Japan, jointly sanctioned by the two richest women's professional tours: the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour. It was an unofficial money event on the LPGA ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, she played with a mix-matched set of clubs because her clubs were lost by an airline. She has finished second in the

Women's PGA Championship The Women's PGA Championship (branded as the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for sponsorship reasons) is a women's professional golf tournament. First held in 1955, it is one of five majors on the LPGA Tour. It is not recognized as a major by the ...

, losing in a playoff, and tied second in the

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...

. She was also sole or tied second in the

Evian Masters The Evian Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as The Amundi Evian Championship, is a women's professional golf tournament in France, played at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains. It was originally held in June, move ...

in France three times before it was recognized as a major championship. She was a member of five European

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 beh ...

teams in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and played three times in the

Praia d'El Rey European Cup The Praia d'El Rey European Cup was an annual professional golf tournament played at Praia d'El Rey, Portugal. It was played in 1997, 1998 and 1999 between teams of men representing the European Seniors Tour and ladies representing the Ladies Europ ...

, a team competition sanctioned by the LET.

Private life

In 1995, three weeks before winning the

, she was diagnosed with diabetes. She married Shaun McBride on New Years eve 2007 and since then played under her married name, Maria McBride. Their daughter Emily was born in 2009 and the family resides in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. Her husband has caddied for her, as well as on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

, for

Bryce Molder Bryce Wade Molder (born January 27, 1979) is a former American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour. Early life Molder was born in Harrison, Arkansas and attended public school in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Conway, Arkansas. He has Poland ...

Amateur wins

*1990 Norwegian Open Amateur Championship *1991 British Girls Open Championship, Swedish Youth under 19 Championship *1993 Swedish Match-play Championship, French Open Junior Championship *1994 Swedish Junior Match-play Championship, Swedish Match-play Championship *1995

, Spanish International Ladies Amateur Championship, Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship

Professional wins (13)

LPGA Tour (5)

LPGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

Ladies European Tour (2)

Other wins (6)

*1991 Aspeboda Ladies Open (

) (as an amateur) *1993 Aspeboda Ladies Open (

) (as an amateur) *1996 Delsjö Ladies Open, Toyota Ladies Open, Aspeboda Ladies Open (all

) *1997 A.V. Rubbish Classic (Players West Tour)

Results in LPGA majors

^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001
^^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013 CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (twice) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (nine times)

LPGA Tour career summary

*official through the 2022 season

Team appearances

Amateur *

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 Sweden):

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

(representing Sweden): 1992, 1994 (winners) *

(representing Sweden):

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Professional *

(representing Ladies European Tour): 1997, 1998 (tie), 1999 (winners) *

(representing Europe):

(winners) *

Lexus Cup The Lexus Cup was an annual golf tournament played between 2005 and 2008 for professional women golfers contested by a team representing Asia and an international team representing the rest of the world. It was sanctioned by the LPGA Tour,

(representing International team):

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing Sweden): 2008

Solheim Cup record

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hjorth, Maria Swedish female golfers LPGA Tour golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Solheim Cup competitors for Europe Swedish female curlers People from Falun Golfers from Orlando, Florida 1973 births Living people 20th-century Swedish women 21st-century Swedish women