Anna Nordqvist: Team Europe's Solheim Cup captain bids emotional farewell to playing career at LPGA Tour's FM Championship

Anna Nordqvist brought an emotional end to her 18-year playing career at the FM Championship on Sunday, 12 days before she leads Team Europe into the Solheim Cup as captain, live on Sky Sports.

The 39-year-old, who announced this week that Boston would be her farewell, finished on the ninth green at TPC Boston surrounded by fellow players and caddies, signing off with a level-par final round to finish one under for the week.

Her career ends with 16 victories, including three majors, 19 top-10 finishes in major championships and five Solheim Cup triumphs from nine consecutive appearances. Across 18 years, she has built a body of work that ranks among the finest of any European golfer of her generation.

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LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley embraced her and playing partner Ariya Jutanugarn had already reduced her to tears at the very first hole by telling her how happy she was to share the legendary Swede's final round.

"Nothing ever prepares you for this moment. I'm definitely going to miss it," Nordqvist said. "Part of me feels like I still have so much more left in me but I'm just forever grateful for everything this game and the LPGA family has done for me.

"I came out on tour in 2009 as a 21-year-old with no family in the US, and everyone has been just such a huge support."

Asked about her legacy, she said: "So many people think your career is a straight line upwards. I feel like I've gone through a lot of ups and downs both on and off the course. What I want to be remembered for is the fact that I never gave up.

"I thought about quitting in 2012, 2013. I was really, really close to walking away. If my younger brother hadn't come out and caddied for me that summer, I don't think I would be sitting here. So he saved my career."

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The Swede won the first of her three majors as a rookie in 2009 and added the Evian Championship in 2017, but it is the 2021 AIG Women's Open at Carnoustie she holds dearest.

"It's still one of those moments I pinch myself," she said. "Did this really happen? No one can ever take that away from me, and it's definitely the most proud moment of my career."

Her nine consecutive Solheim Cup appearances yielded five European victories and, after serving as a playing vice-captain in the last two editions, she now turns her full attention to the captaincy - a role she says has consumed her for the past 18 months.

"All the work you put in, you put in for others to prepare for that one week," she said. "The satisfaction of seeing your hard work pay off won't be until the actual Solheim Cup.

"Hopefully the players are going to see all the hard work that me and the rest of the background team have put in, because it really takes a village to make an event like that happen."

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Family sits at the heart of both the decision and what comes next, Nordqvist admitting she has "missed so many birthdays" across two decades of sacrifice. Her nieces and nephews will be waiting in the Netherlands in two weeks, where Bernardus Golf hosts the first assignment of the next chapter of her life.

The gifts had begun before the goodbye even started.

Former world No 1 Lydia Ko presented her with a bottle earlier in the week, and Nordqvist admitted she had needed a moment to identify what it was.

"A really nice bottle of, I think it was champagne, maybe, I'm not sure. I don't drink a ton."

The vintage actually turned out to be 2009, the year her rookie season began – a fitting touch.

A second bottle of the same label was waiting as she came off the course on Sunday. This one was a 2017, the year she won the Evian Championship, her first major on European soil.

There had been tears all day, but she left the interview room smiling.

"So 2017 was a memorable one," she said. "My mascara is obviously waterproof, so that's a good sign."

Yin claims first win on tour since 2024

Ruoning Yin of China claimed the title in the end with a two-stroke victory over Hyo Joo Kim, the 23-year-old closing with a two-under 70 crowned by a birdie at the last.

It ended a 672-day wait for a win stretching back to the 2024 Maybank Championship and involved a key piece of decision making down the stretch.

Yin had drawn level with a 25-foot birdie putt at the par-five 12th and then parred her way through the breeze until the closing par-five, where, with Kim in a bunker, she overruled caddie David Jones' suggestion to play safe.

"David told me to aim a little left and I was just like, let's just go for the green, go for the pin," said the winner. "I hit a good shot and I was telling myself, just slow down and make a good tempo, and then I did it."

The win was the sixth of Yin's career and, allied to her 2023 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, makes her just the sixth player in the last 15 years to collect six LPGA Tour titles including a major before turning 24 – the first since Nelly Korda, while she becomes a second successive Chinese winner of this event after Miranda Wang's 2025 triumph.

Kim's challenge unravelled with a three-putt bogey at the 16th, while Sei Young Kim dropped four shots in three holes after leading with a chip-in at the 11th and had to settle for a share of fourth alongside Rose Zhang, behind Allisen Corpuz who finished third.

World No 1 Korda finished tied-50th in her final outing before the Solheim Cup, while English pair Charley Hull and Lottie Woad finished in a tie for 18th and 27th respectively.

Who will win the Solheim Cup? Watch Team Europe's bid to regain the trophy exclusively live on Sky Sports, with all three days live from September 11-13 on Sky Sports Golf. Get latest Sky Sports deals or stream with no contract on NOW.

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