Sandra Gal

{{short description|German professional golfer}} {{Infobox golfer | name = Sandra Gal | image = Sandra Gal (17581737811).jpg | imagesize = 250px | caption = Gal at the 2015 Kingsmill Championship | fullname = | nickname = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1985|5|9|df=y}} | birth_place = Düsseldorf, West Germany (now Germany) | death_date =  | death_place = | height = {{height|ft=6|in=0}} | weight = | nationality = {{DEU}} | residence = Orlando, Florida, U.S. | spouse = | partner = | children = | college = University of Florida | yearpro = 2007 | retired =  | tour = LPGA Tour (joined 2008) | extour =  | prowins = 1 | lpgawins = 1 | letwins =  | jlpgawins =  | klpagswins =  | lagtwins =  | alpgwins =  | futwins =  | otherwins =  | majorwins =  | nabisco = T15: 2011 | lpga = 12th/T12: 2012, 2015 | wusopen = 3rd: 2012 | wbritopen = T25: 2013 | evian = T14: 2017 | wghofid =  | wghofyear =  | award1 = | year1 = | awardssection =  }} '''Sandra Gal''' (born 9 May 1985) is a German professional golfer who currently plays on the United States–based LPGA Tour.

==Childhood, college and amateur career== Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Gal began playing golf at age five during family vacations to golf resorts around Europe.<ref name="sitebio">SandraGal.com, [http://sandragal.com/idxblog.htm Sandra Gal Official Web Site Biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305033748/http://www.sandragal.com/idxblog.htm |date=2011-03-05 }} Retrieved 27 March 2011.</ref> At age 17 she joined the German National Team and at 18 won the German National Girls Championship. She graduated from high school in 2004.

While still competing on the German National Team, Gal attended college in the United States at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She played for the Florida Gators women's golf team from 2005 to 2007 and won four events in NCAA competition, received First Team All-American honors in 2007, and was an NGCA Academic All-American from 2005 to 2008.<ref name="all-american">"[http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=13113 Sandra Gal: Gainesville Was the Right Place to Call Home]," GatorZone.com (11 December 2007). Retrieved 27 June 2011.</ref><ref name="lpgabio" />

In 2007, she won the Ladies European Amateur, and later that fall, entered the LPGA Qualifying Tournament where she qualified for the LPGA Tour for 2008 and immediately turned pro. Although by turning pro she could no longer participate in collegiate golf, she completed her degree requirements while playing full-time on the LPGA Tour and graduated with honors from Florida in August 2008 with a bachelor's degree in advertising.<ref name="sitebio" />

==Professional career== Gal tied for 14th in the 2007 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to earn full playing privileges on the LPGA in 2008; she turned professional immediately following the tournament.<ref name="lpgabio">LPGA.com, [http://www.lpga.com/content/2011PlayerBiosPDF/Gal,Sandra-11.pdf LPGA Official Biography] Retrieved 27 March 2011.</ref>

In her fourth season on the LPGA Tour in 2011, Gal won her first event at the Kia Classic in late March. She finished the 72-hole event at 16-under-par, one stroke ahead of runner-up Jiyai Shin<ref>{{cite web |publisher=LPGA.com |url=http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=27951&mid=1 |title=2011 Kia Classic - Final Tournament Summary |accessdate=12 June 2011}}</ref> Previously her best finish had been fifth at the 2009 LPGA Corning Classic. Also in 2009, she recorded two career-low rounds of 64.<ref name="lpgabio"/>

She is only the second German player after Tina Fischer to win on the LPGA Tour.

Gal was a member of the winning European Solheim Cup Team in 2011 and also played on the European Solheim Cup Team in 2015.

In 2016, Gal participated at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she finished in the position of T25.

==Coaching staff== Gal's swing coach is Mitchell Spearman and her fitness coach is the fitness trainer of the National Golf Team Germany, Christian Marysko. Beginning in September 2016, her new caddie is Oliver Brett.<ref name="staff">{{cite web |url=https://sandragal.com/team |title=Sandra Gal – Official Website |accessdate=12 October 2017}}</ref>

== Professional wins (1) == === LPGA Tour (1)=== {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;" !No. !Date !Tournament !Winning score !To par !Margin of victory !Runner-up !Winner's share ($) |- |align=center|1 |align=right|27 Mar 2011 |Kia Classic |align=right|67-68-70-71=276 |align=center|–16 |1 stroke |{{flagicon|KOR}} Jiyai Shin |align=center|255,000 |}

==Results in LPGA majors== ''Results not in chronological order before 2019.'' {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;" !Tournament !! 2006 !! 2007 !! 2008 !! 2009 !! 2010 !! 2011 !! 2012 !! 2013 !! 2014 !! 2015 !! 2016 !! 2017 !! 2018 !! 2019 !! 2020 |- |align=left|ANA Inspiration |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |CUT |T34 |T15 |T38 |CUT |T34 |T46 |CUT |CUT |T48 |T44 |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |- |align=left|U.S. Women's Open |CUT |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |T40 |51 |T34 |style="background:yellow;"|3 |CUT |T22 |CUT |CUT |T27 |CUT |CUT |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |- |align=left|Women's PGA Championship |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |T56 |T49 |CUT |CUT |T12 |CUT |T22 |12 |T30 |CUT |T40 |T66 |CUT |- |align=left|The Evian Championship ^ |style="background:#eeeeee;" colspan=7| |T19 |T32 |T50 |T64 |T14 |T37 |CUT |style="background:#eeeeee;"|NT |- |align=left|Women's British Open |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |CUT |T33 |CUT |T54 |CUT |T25 |CUT |T36 |T47 |T49 |T22 |CUT |69 |} ^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013  {{legend|yellow|Top 10}} {{legend|#eeeeee|Did not play}} DNP = did not play CUT = missed the half-way cut NT = no tournament T = tied

===Summary=== {| class=wikitable style=text-align:center !Tournament !! Wins !! 2nd !! 3rd !! Top-5 !! Top-10 !! Top-25 !! Events !! Cuts made |- |align=left|ANA Inspiration || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 11 || 7 |- |align=left|U.S. Women's Open || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 12 || 6 |- |align=left|Women's PGA Championship || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 13 || 8 |- |align=left|The Evian Championship || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 7 || 6 |- |align=left|Women's British Open || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 13 || 8 |- !Totals !! 0 !! 0 !! 1 !! 1 !! 1 !! 10 !! 56 !! 35 |} *Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2011 U.S. Open – 2012 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

==LPGA Tour career summary== {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size: 95%;" ! Year !! Tournaments played !! Cuts made !!Wins !! 2nd !! 3rd !! Top 10s !! Best finish !! Earnings ($) !! Money list rank !! Scoring average !! Scoring rank |- |2006 |1 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |CUT |n/a | |78.00 | |- |2008 |22 |17 |0 |0 |0 |0 |T14 |align=right|181,162 |68 |72.03 |40 |- |2009 |23 |17 |0 |0 |0 |2 |T5 |align=right|298,763 |46 |72.12 |41 |- |2010 |22 |15 |0 |0 |0 |0 |T11 |align=right|106,388 |67 |73.39 |94 |- |2011 |20 |17 |1 |1 |0 |5 |1 |align=right|623,526 |20 |71.64 |19 |- |2012 |26 |23 |0 |0 |1 |2 |3 |align=right|574,323 |25 |71.80 |32 |- |2013 |25 |20 |0 |0 |0 |4 |4 |align=right|420,137 |35 |71.25 |25 |- |2014 |27 |20 |0 |0 |0 |5 |T5 |align=right|504,518 |36 |71.27 |21 |- |2015 |27 |26 |0 |0 |0 |3 |T5 |align=right|531,961 |30 |71.17 |17 |- |2016 |26 |20 |0 |0 |0 |2 |T4 |align=right|306,799 |62 |71.71 |56 |- |2017 |27 |18 |0 |0 |0 |2 |T7 |align=right|318,529 |59 |71.79 |80 |- |2018 |25 |17 |0 |0 |1 |3 |T3 |align=right|373,846 |58 |71.28 |39 |- |2019 |17 |8 |0 |0 |0 |0 |T11 |align=right|83,552 |116 |72.82 |139 |- |2020 |5 |2 |0 |0 |0 |0 |T48 |align=right|13,476 |144 |73.57 |n/a |- |2021 |5 |1 |0 |0 |0 |0 |71 |align=right|5,923 |175 |73.50 |n/a |- |2022 |1 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |CUT |align=right|0 |n/a |75.50 |n/a |- |2023 |colspan=11|''Did not play'' |- |2024 |11 |6 |0 |0 |0 |0 |T30 |align=right|47,264 |163 |72.43 |126 |- |2025 |1 |1 |0 |0 |0 |0 |T58 |align=right|6,381 |180 |73.75 |n/a |} Official through 2025 season<ref>{{cite web |access-date=23 December 2025 |title=Sandra Gal stats |publisher=LPGA |url=https://www.lpga.com/athletes/sandra-gal/82873/stats}}</ref>

==World ranking== Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size: 95%;" ! Year !! World ranking !! Source |- | 2007 || 694 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2007-12-25/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=25 December 2007}}</ref> |- | 2008 || 124 ||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2008-12-30/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=30 December 2008}}</ref> |- | 2009 || 73 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2009-12-29/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=29 December 2009}}</ref> |- | 2010 || 124 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2010-12-28/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=28 December 2010}}</ref> |- | 2011 || 41 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2011-12-27/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=27 December 2011}}</ref> |- | 2012 || 33 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2012-12-31/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=31 December 2012}}</ref> |- | 2013 || 45 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2013-12-30/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=30 December 2013}}</ref> |- | 2014 || 50 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2014-12-29/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=29 December 2014}}</ref> |- | 2015 || 47 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2015-12-28/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=28 December 2015}}</ref> |- | 2016 || 77 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2016-12-26/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=26 December 2016}}</ref> |- | 2017 || 93 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2017-12-25/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=25 December 2017}}</ref> |- | 2018 || 91 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2018-12-31/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=31 December 2018}}</ref> |- | 2019 || 165 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2019-12-30/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=30 December 2019}}</ref> |- | 2020 || 261 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2020-12-28/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=28 December 2020}}</ref> |- | 2021 || 628 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2021-12-27/ |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=27 December 2021}}</ref> |- | 2022 || 1157 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2022-12-26 |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=26 December 2022}}</ref> |- | 2023 || – || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2023-12-25 |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=25 December 2023}}</ref> |- | 2024 || 709 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2024-12-30 |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=30 December 2024}}</ref> |- | 2025 || 904 || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rolexrankings.com/rankings/2025-12-29 |title=Women's World Golf Rankings |date=29 December 2025}}</ref> |}

==Team appearances== '''Amateur''' *Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Germany): 2004, 2006 *European Ladies' Team Championship (representing Germany): 2005, 2007

'''Professional''' *Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2011 (winners), 2015

=== Solheim Cup record === {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size: 95%;" ! Year !! Total matches !! Total W–L–H !! Singles W–L–H !! Foursomes W–L–H !! Fourballs W–L–H !! Points won !! Points % |- |Career |7 |'''''2–3–2''''' |'''''0–2–0''''' |'''''2–0–0''''' |'''''0–1–2''''' |3.0 |42.9 |- |2011 |3 |'''''0–2–1''''' |'''''0–1–0''''' lost to B. Lang 6&5 |'''''0–0–0''''' |'''''0–1–1''''' halved with C. Matthew, lost w/ C. Boeljon 2&1 |0.5 |16.7 |- |2015 |4 |'''''2–1–1''''' |'''''0–1–0''''' lost to P. Creamer 4&3 |'''''2–0–0''''' won w/ C. Matthew 3&2, won w/ C. Matthew 1 up |'''''0–0–1''''' halved w/ C. Masson |2.5 |62.5 |}

== Olympic games participation == {| class="wikitable" !Year !Country !Score !Final position |- |2016 |Brazil |71-74-69-69=283 |T25 |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == *{{official website|http://www.sandragal.com}} *{{LPGA player|sandra-gal/82873}} *{{LadiesEuroTour player|130220}} *{{WWGR|2637}}

{{Navboxes |title=Sandra Gal at the Solheim Cup |list= {{2011 European Solheim Cup team}} {{2015 European Solheim Cup team}} }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gal, Sandra}} Category:German female golfers Category:LPGA Tour golfers Category:Solheim Cup competitors for Europe Category:Olympic golfers for Germany Category:Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Category:Florida Gators women's golfers Category:German expatriate golfers in the United States Category:Sportspeople from Düsseldorf Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century German sportswomen