Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen (born 5 May 1999) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

professional golfer and

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 ...

. In 2023, she won three times on the

LET Access Series The LET Access Series (LETAS) is a professional golf tour for women and the official development tour to the Ladies European Tour. Launched in 2010, the LET Access Series provides players with an opportunity to compete and progress on to the LET ...

and secured the Order of Merit title. As an amateur, she won the

European Nations Cup – Copa Sotogrande The European Nations Cup – Copa Sotogrande is an annual amateur golf tournament held at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande in Spain. The tournament is a stroke play event held over 72 holes. In 1970, Brandy de Jerez Regulatory Council started to spons ...

and played in the final of the 2022

NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships The NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship, played in the month of May, is the annual competition in women's collegiate golf for individuals and teams from universities in Division I. Golf was one of twelve women's sports added to the NCAA cha ...

Amateur career

Nielsen had a successful amateur career and represented the Danish National Team in European and World Championships between 2016 and 2022. Her European Ladies' Team Championship team finished 5th, 3rd, 8th, 3rd, 5th and 5th, to cement the competitiveness and consistency of the Danish side. Individually, Nielsen won the 2016 German Girls Open and the 2018

, in addition to winning the Danish International Amateur Championship in 2017 and the Danish National Stroke Play Championship in 2018 and 2020. Nielsen enrolled at the University of Oregon in 2019 and played with the Oregon Ducks women's golf team until 2022. As a freshman, she was an All-American and posted the second best scoring average in school history. As a sophomore, she was a key contributor in Oregon's first ever

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Championship win. In her junior year, Nielsen gained national attention after she led Oregon all the way to the final of the 2022

at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she went head-to-head with

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

's Rose Zhang, the world number one ranked amateur in the final. The match was all tied at 2–2 and Zhang held a 2-up lead with two holes to play when suddenly the officials gave Nielsen a one-stroke penalty, claiming her push cart had touched Zhang's ball in the rough. This obscure match-play-only rule was added to the ''Rules of Golf'' in 2019, gave Nielsen a one-stroke penalty, and effectively awarded Zhang and the Cardinal the NCAA Championship victory.

Professional career

Nielsen turned professional after the Espirito Santo Trophy in September 2022 instead of going back to school. She played a few events in the

, where she was runner-up at the 2022 Calatayud Ladies Open. In 2023, she joined the

where she was runner-up at the

Santander Golf Tour Girona The Santander Golf Tour Barcelona is a women's professional golf tournament on Spain's Santander Golf Tour that has featured on the LET Access Series. It was first played in 2016 and is held near Barcelona, Spain , image_flag = Bander ...

and

Flumserberg Ladies Open The Flumserberg Ladies Open is a women's professional golf tournament in the LET Access Series, held since 2014 at Gams-Werdenberg Golf Club in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Originally the tournament was named after its main sponsor, the Association ...

, before winning the Montauban Ladies Open in France and the

Capio Ögon Trophy The Capio Ögon Trophy is a women's professional golf tournament on the Swedish Golf Tour, first played in 1996. It became a LET Access Series event in 2020. It is always held in Uppsala, Sweden. Played at Upsala Golf Club, the club had previous ...

in Sweden She earned

membership for 2024 after her third win of the season at the

Lombardia Ladies Open (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

in Italy. She comfortably secured both the LETAS Order of Merit and Rookie of the Year titles.

Amateur wins

*2016 German Girls Open *2017 Cobra-Puma Skanderborg Bilcentrum Open, Danish International Amateur Championship *2018

, Danish National Stroke Play Championship *2019 DGU Elite Tour III *2020 Danish National Stroke Play Championship *2021 Holstebro Open Championship Sources:

Professional wins (3)

LET Access Series (3)

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Girls' Team Championship The European Girls' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women up to 18 organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1991. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1991 to 1999 and has bee ...

(representing Denmark): 2016 * World Junior Girls Championship (representing Denmark): 2017 * European Ladies' Team Championship (representing Denmark):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

* Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Denmark):

Source:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Sofie Kibsgaard Danish female golfers Ladies European Tour golfers Oregon Ducks women's golfers Sportspeople from the North Jutland Region People from Thisted 1999 births Living people