Sagstrom Says Game is Good Enough to Win Heading into Final Round at Meijer LPGA Classic

By Amy Rogers

(Courtesy of LPGA.com)

Madelene Sagstrom has been riding the highs and lows of her game throughout the 2025 LPGA Tour season.

The Swede captured her first win in five years in April at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, but she has also missed five cuts and hasn’t picked up another top 10 so far this season. But Sagstrom could be well on her way to another highlight this weekend at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, where she’s well-positioned heading into the final round at Blythefield Country Club thanks to a second-round 67.

“I know my game is good enough to win at the moment. I've already won this year so far and also missed some cuts,” Sagstrom said on Saturday. “I think just staying in the present, enjoying it. I put myself in a great position. I can't complain.”

Sagstrom found plenty of motivation on moving day at the Meijer LPGA Classic, where she began the day two strokes off the lead and part of a chasing pack that included more than three dozen players within five strokes of the lead. Sagstrom separated herself early in round three by going eagle, birdie, eagle on holes four, five and six to surge up the leaderboard.

“Yesterday, I smacked my driver down No. 4. Only had to hit 6-iron into there, and today hit a lovely 5-wood to probably two feet. So, it wasn't too hard work,” Sagstrom said about making her first eagle of the day. “And then I decided for some reason I hit a really lovely second shot into 6 and just went plop. I was happy I grinded out the beginning of not letting it get to me and find my rhythm, and then momentum literally switched, and my confidence was high again.”

Sagstrom made the turn in 31 but struggled to find the putting surface throughout the back nine, where she scrambled to make critical par saves at Nos. 13 and 15 to remain atop the leaderboard. But a bogey on the par-4 16th hole dropped her out of the lead and into a chasing position until Nanna Koerstz Madsen bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes to bring Sagstrom into a pack of six players tied at the top of the leaderboard.

“I think you have to stay patient. There are a lot of good opportunities on the golf course. So keeping numbers off the scorecard, you can probably make a bogey here and there, but the par 5s, if you can take advantage of those out here, it's a huge advantage for your score,” Sagstrom said about her strategy this weekend. “You have 18 as a great example. If you hit a good drive there, you can have an eagle opportunity coming into the end tomorrow. I think it's more about staying patient and not really getting ahead of yourself.

“It's a crowded leaderboard. Anyone can win this.”

Many of the players who return to compete year after year at Blythefield Country Club point to the overwhelming support and turnout from the local community as the reason they enjoy coming back to compete in Belmont, Mich. Sagstrom is no different. She is making her eighth appearance at the Meijer LPGA Classic and has befriended a young boy named Liam, who has followed Sagstrom every year she has played in the tournament. Liam came out to watch her play on Saturday after he completed his baseball game in the morning. Sagstrom says each year they take a picture together, and this year, she wanted to make his support official by getting him a special gift, a hat just like the one she wears on Tour.

“I was like, ‘I'll get a bucket hat. You need to be proper Team Sagstrom now,’” the Swede said with a smile.

Liam will no doubt be cheering on Sagstrom as she looks to capture her second win of the season. And while she’s been playing well this week without her coach Hans Larsson on-site as he’s at the U.S. Open this week at Oakmont Country Club, she says her coach told her she can call to check in when she plays well, too. But Sagstrom says she feels confident that she has all the tools she needs to give herself a chance at a third career win on Sunday.

“I feel like I can win this week,” Sagstrom said after her round on Saturday. “It's golf. You still have to go out and shoot the shots. You have to manage this golf course really well with the greens being this firm this year. So, you still have to put in a good game, but I feel like it's in me.”