A German golfer has won her maiden European Tour title – just 13 years after she was given a one per cent chance of survival after being hit by a car.
Back in 2013, Leonie Harm, 28, was out jogging when a vehicle travelling at 44mph crashed into her.
Paramedics who attended the scene were the ones to give Harm the extremely slim chance of survival, and she was left in a coma after suffering severe brain injuries and multiple bone fractures.
Nevertheless, the German remarkably returned to the golf course in just seven weeks and she won the National Women’s Amateur title a year later.
Harm later moved to the US to study biochemical and biophysical sciences at the University of Houston, a move that was inspired by her mother’s tragic death in 2016 after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Alongside that, she continued to achieve success on the course and became the first German to win the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship in 2018, before she turned professional in 2020.
Leonie Harm won her maiden professional title on Sunday, 13 years after she nearly lost her life
Harm was given a one per cent chance of survival after being hit by a car travelling at 44mph
However, her progress was disrupted by the Covid pandemic, during which she worked as an intern at a company who were developing a potential vaccine candidate.
Harm continued to battle on though in the golfing world and she secured runner-up finishes on the European Tour in 2021 and 2022.
Her form then dipped though, and in 2024 the 28-year-old considered quitting the sport amid various struggles with her game.
But she bounced back and secured a remarkable triumph at the German Masters on Sunday when she edged out South African player Casandra Alexander courtesy of a birdie on the final hole.
Speaking after her triumph – which came four years after she came second at the tournament – an elated Harm said: ‘I’m really happy I got it over the line this time after coming close in 2022 and just being out here with all the German fans.
‘Resilience is a good thing, and I have shown this at times, but I believe right now I’m in a good spot mentally and for it to then be paired with success in golf is such a great feeling because I didn’t have to be miserable.
‘I could’ve been happy this whole time and it would have worked with a lot of the times where you get impatient to be more forgiving to yourself.
‘A good takeaway there is to be your own best friend eventually and hopefully then be successful in working with yourself rather than against it which I’ve done for probably most of my life.’
