Volvo Cross Country Challenge

Volvo Cross Country Challenge

Tournament information
Established	2005
Tour(s)	Ladies European Tour
Prize fund	$120,000 $1,000,000 (bonus) Volvo XC70
Final year	2007
Final champion
Kiran Matharu

The Volvo Cross Country Challenge was a women's professional golf series on the Ladies European Tour. It was a separate dedicated yearly order of merit for events in the Nordic region and held each year from 2005 to 2007.

The winner of the challenge received a Volvo car and prize money. The 18-year-old Kiran Matharu from Leeds, England, had yet to learn to drive when she won the Challenge and a brand new Volvo XC70 in 2007. ^[1]

Participation

To qualify, players had to participate in at least three out of four of the LET tournaments hosted in Nordic countries:

1. Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika (Sweden)
2. SAS Masters (Norway)
3. Finnair Masters (Finland)
4. Nykredit Masters (Denmark)

Prize money collected in these tournaments were added up in a "Volvo XC Challenge Order-of-Merit". The top ten players on this Order-of-Merit shared a prize fund of $120,000.

In addition, players could get $1,000,000 bonus by winning all four of the above tournaments in one season. ^[2]

Winners

Year	Winner	Points	Ref.
2007	Kiran Matharu	280	[3]
2006	Laura Davies	577.5	[4] [5] [6] [7]
2005	Cecilia Ekelundh	307	[8] [9] [10]

Order of Merit

The winners were determined by an Order of Merit based on results in the four tournaments, calculated using a points-based system.

2005

Pos.	Player		Tournaments					Tmts		Total
			Sweden	Norway	Finland	Denmark				Money	Points
1	Cecilia Ekelundh		T25 –	N O T H E L D	T2 157	3 150		3		34,508	307
2	Iben Tinning		T18 –		T16 4	1st 300		3		39,310	304
3	Lisa Holm Sorensen		T49 –		1st 300	T61 –		4		33,020	300
4	Suzann Pettersen		6 70		T2 177	•		3		32,533	247
5	Lora Fairclough		T38 –		T12 27.5	2 275		3		27,398	227.5

2006

Pos.	Player		Tournaments					Tmts		Total
			Sweden	Norway	Finland	Denmark				Money	Points
1	Laura Davies		T5 80	1st 300	T11 22.5	T2 175		4		69,855	577.5
2	Virginie Lagoutte		T34 –	T3 135	1st 300	T12 17.5		4		49,550	452.5
3	Karen Margrethe Juul		T23 –	T11 11	T6 48	1st 300		4		44,195	359
4	Gwladys Nocera		4 120	T11 11	T3 135	T8 40		4		46,942	306
5	Annika Sörenstam		1st 300	•	•	•		1		75,000	300

2007

Pos.	Player		Tournaments					Tmts		Total
			Sweden	Norway	Finland	Denmark				Money	Points
1	Kiran Matharu		T28 –	•	T4 105	T2 175		3		32,145	280
2	Lotta Wahlin		T60 –	T34 –	3 150	4 120		4		28,090	270
3	Johanna Westerberg		T58 –	T6 60	2 200	T19 –		4		31,263	260
4	Kirsty Taylor		T39 –	•	T33 –	2 200		3		22,738	175
5	Diana Luna		T97 –	T3 135	•	T10 25		3		15,884	160

  Win

  Top 5

  Made points cut

• Did not play

References

1. "Kiran Matharu wins the Volvo Challenge". 9 September 2007. Archived from the original on 22 April 2015.
2. "LET and Volvo in new sponsorship deal". GolfToday.
3. Ladies European Tour. "Matharu wins Volvo Cross Country Challenge".
4. Ladies European Tour. "Davies wins 2006 Volvo Cross Country Challenge".
5. Ladies European Tour. "2006 Volvo Cross Country Challenge".
6. Ladies European Tour (23 August 2006). "Davies and Pettersen headline SAS Masters".
7. Ladies European Tour (30 August 2006). "Davies heads strong field for Finnair Masters".
8. Ladies European Tour. "Ekelundh receives her Volvo XC70".
9. Ladies European Tour. "2006 Volvo Cross Country Challenge".
10. "Ekelundh rullar mot toppen" [Ekelundh rolls to the top]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 10. October 2005. p. 113. Retrieved 16 October 2023.