Lingmerth was born and grew up in Tranås in the province of Småland, Sweden, and is son of Thomas and Birgitta Lingmerth. He began playing golf at the local club, Tranås Golf Club, which he has represented through his career.
Lingmerth won his age level category (15) at the unofficial Swedish Youth Championship, Bankboken Cup, at Falun-Borlänge Golf Club, one stroke ahead of Henrik Norlander, who also came to be a PGA Tour player.[2][3][4]
Amateur career
In January 2008, Lingmerth won the 2007 edition of the Dixie Amateur Championship at Palm Aire Country Club in Sarasota, Florida, beating, among others, future professional world number one Brooks Koepka, who finished 11 strokes behind Lingmerth.
Lingmerth thus played on the Nationwide Tour during the 2011 season. He had some success with two third-place finishes and five top-10s but missed out on earning his PGA Tour card by two spots on the season-ending money list, finishing 27th; the top 25 advanced to the PGA Tour. He also played the PGA Tour Qualifying school again in a move to try and earn playing privileges, but finished way down the field outside the top 100.
Lingmerth continued on the Web.com Tour in 2012 and after losing a playoff earlier in the year, he won his first title on the tour at the Neediest Kids Championship in October, finishing a stroke ahead of Casey Wittenberg.[9] Lingmerth ended the season ranked 10th on the money list, which earned him his PGA Tour card for the 2013 season.
In only his second career start on the PGA Tour, Lingmerth finished as a joint runner-up at the Humana Challenge after losing in a three-man playoff. He shot a 10-under-par round of 62 in the final round to get into the playoff alongside Brian Gay and Charles Howell III. He was eliminated at the first extra hole after finding the water with his second shot to the par-5 18th hole. Lingmerth also led the 2013 Players Championship in the third round, finishing T2, two strokes behind Tiger Woods. He finished his rookie season in 75th place, to retain his card for 2014.
In 2014 however, he finished the season in 134th place, resulting in a visit to the Web.com Tour Finals. There he finished in 8th place,[10] earning a return to the PGA Tour.
Lingmerth earned his first PGA Tour win at the 2015 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, Ohio. Lingmerth won after beating Justin Rose on the third extra hole of a sudden death playoff.
In January 2016, Lingmerth lost in a sudden-death playoff to Jason Dufner at the CareerBuilder Challenge. This was the second time that Lingmerth had lost in a playoff at the event, following his runner up finish to Brian Gay in 2013. He lost on the second extra hole after hooking his second shot into the water at the 18th and had earlier had a putt for the victory from 20 feet on the first playoff hole. Despite this, the result moved Lingmerth into the top 50 in the world rankings.
In August 2016, Lingmerth was one of two golfers representing Sweden (Henrik Stenson was the other) at the men's individual event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the first Olympic golf tournament since 1904. Lingmerth finished tied 11th, with a score 6 under par, while Stenson earned the silver medal.
