Anna Carin Pernilla Hjalmarsson Koch (née Hjalmarsson; born 23 February 1971) is a Swedish professional golfer who previously played on the Ladies European Tour and on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She was captain of the 2015 European Solheim Cup team.
Amateur career Carin Koch had a successful amateur career. She represented Gullbringa Golf & Country Club, in Kungälv, north of Gothenburg, Sweden, just as elder Swedish female stars Kärstin Ehrnlund and Helen Alfredsson. She was the 1988 Swedish Junior 18 Match-play Champion. She represented Sweden on both junior level and in the national amateur team during the period 1988–1991. She was part of the winning Swedish team at the 1990 European Lady Junior's Team Championship at Shannon Golf Club on Ireland, with, among others, Annika Sörenstam.
Koch enrolled at the University of Tulsa and was named Second-Team All-American in 1990 and Scholar All-American in 1991.
Between 1987 and 1991 she played eight times on the Swedish Golf Tour, at the time named the Telia Tour, as an amateur, never finishing outside the top ten. She turned professional in 1992.
Professional career 1992 was her rookie year on the Ladies European Tour. She won the Swedish Golf Tour (at the time named the Telia Tour) Order of Merit in both 1992 and 1993, winning three tournaments each year.
In 1994, she finished fourth on the Asian Order of Merit and tied for fifth at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to earn exempt status for the 1995 LPGA season.
In 1995, her rookie season, her best LPGA finish was a tie for second at the JAL Big Apple Classic. She also gained two top ten finishes on the Ladies European Tour. In 1996 she almost gained her maiden LPGA victory, losing the Edina Realty Classic to Liselotte Neumann in a playoff.
In the 1999 Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Koch had a two shot lead with just the final hole to play. Her caddie gave her the wrong club and she made a double bogey to drop into a six-way sudden death playoff, won by Se Ri Pak. In 2000, Koch won her maiden European title at the 2000 Chrysler Open. She was a member of the victorious European Solheim Cup Team, where she went 3-0 as a "rookie" and sank an eight-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to win her match against Michele Redman to clinch the European Team's victory. She also teamed with Sophie Gustafson to win the inaugural TSN Ladies' World Cup of Golf.
In 2001, she became an LPGA maiden winner at the LPGA Corning Classic. At the start of 2002, Carin topped a Playboy internet poll as the sexiest women on the LPGA but declined to pose for them nude. This was the year Koch recorded a career-best 13 top-10 finishes, including three runner-up finishes and was a captain's pick for the European Solheim Cup team. In 2003, Koch gave birth to her second child, but still played well enough to be a captain's pick for the 2003 Solheim Cup, won by the Europeans in her native Sweden.
In 2005, she won her second career LPGA event at the Corona Morelia Championship. and was again a captain's pick for the 2005 Solheim Cup. She teamed up with Sophie Gustafson to represent Sweden at the inaugural Women's World Cup of Golf and was also a member of the International team at the inaugural Lexus Cup. She also played in the 2007 Women's World Cup of Golf with Helen Alfredsson.
In April 2014, Koch was named European team captain for the 2015 Solheim Cup. The 2015 match, played at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, Germany, ended in a U.S. win 14½–13½, after a strong American come-back the last day.
In 2021 Koch fulfilled the age requirement for the U.S. Senior Women's Open, and gained exemption by virtue of her position on the LPGA Tour all-time money list.
Personal life, awards, honors In 1994, she earned Elite Sign No. 97 by the Swedish Golf Federation, on the basis of national team appearances and national championship performances.
In 2001, she was awarded honorary member of the PGA of Sweden.
As receipant number 27, she was in 2001 awarded the Golden Club by the Swedish Golf Federation for outstanding contributions to Swedish golf.
In 2014, Koch became an honorary member of Hills Golf and Sports Club in Mölndal, south of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she was appointed head of the Hills Business Club.
She was formerly married to golf professional Stefan Koch. During her LPGA Tour career, they lived in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, with their two children, Oliver and Simzon. She now lives in Mölndal, Sweden and uses her maiden name Carin Hjalmarsson.
Amateur wins 1988 Swedish Junior Under 19 Championship
Professional wins (10) LPGA Tour wins (2) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up127 May 2001LPGA Corning Classic−18 (68-67-69-66=270)2 strokes Maria Hjorth Mhairi McKay224 April 2005Corona Morelia Championship−9 (68-69-71-71=279)6 strokes Karine Icher
LPGA Tour playoff record (0–2) No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult11996Edina Realty LPGA Classic Brandie Burton Liselotte Neumann Suzanne StrudwickNeumann won with birdie on third extra hole21999Jamie Farr Kroger Classic Kelli Kuehne Mardi Lunn Se-Ri Pak Sherri Steinhauer Karrie WebbPak won with birdie on first extra hole Sources:
Ladies European Tour wins (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner-up14 Jun 2000Chrysler Open−11 (70-73-65-69=277)4 strokes Samantha Head
Swedish Golf Tour wins (6) No.DateTournamentWinningscoreMargin ofvictoryRunner-upRef1 16 Aug 1992 Aspeboda Ladies Open 222 (+6) 3 strokes Helene Koch 2 9 Aug 1992 Swedish Matchplay Championship 1 hole Margareta Bjurö 3 23 Aug 1992 Conor Ladies Open 216 (E) 1 stroke Helene Koch 4 13 Jun 1993 Ängsö Ladies Open 210 (−6) 3 strokes Catrin Nilsmark 5 7 Aug 1993 Härjedalens Ladies Open 217 (+1) 1 stroke Anna Berg 6 29 Aug 1993 Sigtuna Ladies Open 209 (–7) 2 strokes Anna-Carin Jonasson
Other wins (1) 2000 TSN Ladies World Cup Golf (with Sophie Gustafson)
Results in LPGA majors Tournament 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Kraft Nabisco ChampionshipCUTCUTCUTT17LPGA ChampionshipCUTT18T53T18T36T40U.S. Women's OpenT40CUTT13T5T31du Maurier Classic CUTCUTCUTT63T912
Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Kraft Nabisco ChampionshipT15T5T16T30T24T61T63CUTT64LPGA ChampionshipT17T6T11T7T49CUTCUTT69U.S. Women's OpenCUTT37CUTT10CUTT28CUTCUTCUTWomen's British Open ^T56T8T50T13T15CUTCUTCUTT55 Tournament 2011 2012Kraft Nabisco ChampionshipLPGA ChampionshipU.S. Women's OpenWomen's British Open ^CUTT43 ^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.
CUT = missed the half-way cut. "T" tied
Summary Starts – 58 Wins – 0 2nd-place finishes – 0 3rd-place finishes – 0 Top 3 finishes – 0 Top 5 finishes – 2 Top 10 finishes – 7 Top 25 finishes – 19 Missed cuts – 21 Most consecutive cuts made – 9 Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)
LPGA Tour career summary Year Wins Earnings ($) Money list rank Average19950129,3134872.5419960128,7725073.261997070,8028773.0419980207,4323572.3419990260,9623371.9820000329,3772872.4020011421,3292571.6920020785,817870.9120030155,0235872.2020040568,4042071.0420051612,0362171.5920060223,6646072.6120070152,2326974.2220080313,4685472.582009055,85511173.772010010,882n/a74.00201100n/a78.502012014,56413875.75
Team appearances Amateur European Lady Junior's Team Championship (representing Sweden): 1988, 1990 (winners) European Ladies' Team Championship (representing Sweden): 1989, 1991
Professional Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2000 (winners), 2002, 2003 (winners), 2005, 2015 (non-playing captain) Lexus Cup (representing International team): 2005 (winners), 2006 World Cup (representing Sweden): 2005, 2007
Solheim Cup record Year Totalmatches TotalW–L–H SinglesW–L–H FoursomesW–L–H FourballsW–L–H Pointswon Points%Career1610–3–32–1–15–0–23–2–011.571.9%200033–0–01–0–0 def M. Redman 2&11–0–0 won w/C. Nilsmark 2&11–0–0 won w/C. Nilsmark 2&13100%200254–0–1 0–0–1 halved w/ B. Daniel2–0–0 won w/A. Sörenstam 3&2, won w/A. Sörenstam 4&32–0–0 won w/ M. McKay 3&2, won w/A. Sörenstam 4&34.590%200341–2–10–1–0 lost to J. Inkster 5&41–0–1 halved w/L. Davies, won w/A. Sörenstam 3&20–1–0 lost w/A. Sörenstam 1dn1.537.5%200542–1–11–0–0 def M. Redman 2&11–0–1 halved w/C. Matthew, won w/ S. Gustafson 5&30–1–0 lost w/C. Matthew 1dn2.562.5%
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