by Tremaine Eto and Dustin Watanabe
TARZANA, CALIFORNA – In just her third start on the LPGA Tour, Ingrid Lindblad, a 25-year-old rookie hailing from Halmstad, Sweden, won her first LPGA Tour tournament on a sunny Southern California day at El Caballero Country Club in the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro.
Lindblad fired a final round 68 ending up at -21 under for the tournament, fending off Akie Iwai from Saitama, Japan, who finished at -20 under with a surprising bogey on the final hole.
Lauren Coughlin, Esther Henseleit, and Miyu Yamashita finished tied for third at -19 under.
The LPGA’s brightest stars came out in full force, even with the tournament taking place just a week before the Tour’s first major of the year, the Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, TX. This week marked the first LPGA event at El Caballero – a course nicknamed “El Cab” and set up as a par 72 at 6,515 yards for the tournament – in more than a decade.
Lindblad, clad in a white bucket hat, white top, and a purple skirt during her final round, took home the winner’s prize of $562,500 in just her third start on the LPGA Tour. The overall purse in Tarzana this week was $3.75 million.
Iwai, also in her rookie season, is a 6-time winner on the Japanese LPGA Tour. Notably, she has a twin sister, Chisato, also on the LPGA Tour who played in the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro and finished tied for 12th at -15 under.
Iwai, sporting a white Yonex hat, black polo, white pants, and Nike Zoom Victory Tour shoes adorned with Augusta National azaleas – the same worn by the 2025 Masters champion Rory McIlroy – added to her strong start on the LPGA Tour, with this week’s second place finish joining her runner-up finish at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
The pressure was certainly on for Iwai during the final round, especially with a tricky shot into the final green from the rough with the ball above her feet. After hitting the ball a bit far into the back of the green that trickled into the rough, Iwai was faced with an up-and-down to tie Lindblad and extend the tournament for a chance at the trophy.
Her chip went a bit far, leaving her a nervy test of a 13-foot putt to force a playoff.
As she missed the left-to-right putt just outside, Lindblad near the autograph area off the 18th green could only put her hand to her mouth in disbelief.
“Maybe I have adrenaline, yeah,” Iwai said after the round with a smile during a calm press conference despite the circumstances. “I don’t like short, yeah. But it’s okay.”
Asked what she will take away from the week, Iwai had one word: “Confidence.”
Lindblad spent 5 years at Louisiana State University and reached number 1 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking in 2023 before turning professional the following year and playing on the Epson Tour. 2025 marks her first year on the LPGA Tour.
“I feel like if you put the work in, like eventually it’s going to show up,” Lindblad said.
The tournament came during quite a time for the Los Angeles area – just 100 days following the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires. In fact, El Caballero sits just on the other side of the Santa Monica mountains from the Pacific Palisades. Sentiments of recovery and resilience were strong amongst both patrons and players the entire week.
Nasa Hataoka of Ibaraki, Japan, had the low round of the day, shooting -9 under 63. “I was battling today,” she said after the round. “I was really focusing on my game, especially my putting was really good.”
Lindblad had her ups and downs during the round, with perhaps the most fortunate bounce of the day coming on the 13th hole where her drive went left of the fairway, hit a tree, and ricocheted back into the middle of the fairway.
“I don’t know the camera guy up there, but he was like, there is a little squirrel up there who was nice to you and bumped it out on the fairway,” Lindblad laughed after the win.
Nelly Korda, the World Number 1 who has been no stranger to the winner’s circle lately, fought to secure a win leading up to the Chevron Championship. However, she would have to settle for a Top-20 finish, a water-ball on the 72nd hole doing her no favors. All eyes will be on her next week in The Woodlands, Texas as defending champion for the first major of the year.
Several other prominent players were in the mix throughout the final round, but couldn’t quite find the magic to catch up to the rookies at the top of the leaderboard.
World Number 2 Jeeno Thitikul carded a Top-10 finish, as did major champions Minjee Lee, Jin Young Ko, and Hannah Green. Green came into the week the two-time defending champion of the JM Eagle LA Championship, winning the last two events just across town at Wilshire Country Club.
“I am looking forward to getting back to Wilshire, that’s for sure,” Green laughed. “Who knows? It might be a different Wilshire for me, so we’ll see.”
But this week was all about first-time winner Ingrid Lindblad.
Lindblad’s win comes with a historical parallel. The last LPGA player to win at El Cab? Fellow Swede (and 10-time major champion) Annika Sörenstam, who won The Office Depot Championship in back-to-back years from 2003-2004. Pretty good company to keep there, Ingrid!
Many players with ties to SoCal entered the field this week but found themselves unable to capitalize on their home court advantage. Pepperdine alum Danielle Kang and USC Trojan Sophia Popov both missed the cut, as did several UCLA Bruins, including former world number 1 Lilia Vu, LPGA Tour veteran Ryan O’Toole, sponsor-exempt Caroline Canales, and Monday-qualifier Kate Villegas.
Angel Yin of Arcadia — the points leader of the LPGA’s Race to the CME Globe coming into the week — made the cut, but settled for a Top-40 finish.