When you were 17, it must have made a strong impression when Sweden’s Liselotte Neumann, just four years older than you, won the 1988 U.S. Women’s Open.
That was a big moment for me, even though I didn’t know Liselotte at that point. Here was a countrywoman winning the U.S. Women’s Open, and it felt close. I knew the golf course that she grew up playing, and I knew friends of hers, and she showed that it was possible for a Swede to win the U.S. Open. She came from a similar background to me, and yet she won the biggest tournament in women’s golf.

The morning after Liselotte won, I went to the shop and there was this big newspaper headline: “Lotte Won!” I stood there and stared at this headline. It was just so cool, and that is when I started to dream. From that moment, I knew it was possible.

It has been 20 years since you played against the men on the PGA Tour at Colonial. What was your motivation at the time?
It was an opportunity for me to get better. It was exactly what I needed to push myself a little bit extra. Playing golf with my male contemporaries was nothing new to me. I just thought: let’s go, toughen me up, I don’t mind.

The media built up your appearance as a battle of the sexes. How did you see it?
A woman had not played on the men’s tour for 58 years, but I didn’t go out there to prove that women are as good as men. I had been number
one in the world for a while, yet felt I hadn’t reached my full potential.

Some people didn’t agree with me playing, but that’s life. It was not going to stop me reaching for my goals. I also know that some people took inspiration from it, and that it helped them to find ways to improve their own situations, and that is so much bigger than a chip and a putt. Sometimes you can turn sport into something much bigger than just trying to score.