Scandinavian Mixed Each-Way Tips: Catlin can pounce between the trees

Matt Cooper
07 June 2022
4:00 min read

Catlin is seeking a fourth DP World Tour win.

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The DP World Tour returns to Sweden this week for the Scandinavian Mixed and Matt Cooper has three selections with the Betfair Sportsbook paying seven places...

"Those wins in blustery spots between the trees in Spain and Ireland (at Valderrama and Galgorm Castle) look like they’ll read well this week."

John Catlin 1pt each-way @ 34.033/1

Main Bet: John Catlin 1pt each-way @ 33/1

I'm not a very tactile person. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I'm the least touchy-feely person I know.

Scent on the other hand (or, rather, in the other nostril) I am a sucker for, especially newspapers, magazines and books.

And what is the reason for me introducing such an unnecessarily intimate subject into his week's preview?! Because I suspect that I'd like this week's new host of the Scandinavian Mixed, Halmstad GC, which boasts on its website of having capricious doglegs, plateau greens and long wooded corridors.

All very nice, but the revelation that "not only is it peaceful and pleasant on the course, but it smells good too. A combination of pine and the sea ..." is just the sort perfumery detail all too often overlooked by conventional course architects' focus on fripperies like landing areas and green complexes.

Hopefully, by the end of the preview, we'll be smelling a winner. Last week we went close when I repeated my notion, first identified last year, that winners at the monstrously long Green Eagle GC have a funny habit of owning an excellent record on modern Chinese courses.

For a second year I overlooked the winner, even though he had a victory on just such a course. Hopefully, someone out there followed the smell like the Bisto kids and ended up with Kalle Samooja.

Despite those apparently lovely aromas, having a new course to consider this week is something of a pity because last year's venue Vallda was terrific fun, being a modern heathland layout that provided an excellent test for this unique event which pits DP World Tour performers against those from the Ladies European Tour.

Halmstad looks a lovely spot with tight tree-lined parkland fairways and with its location close to the sea it has a reputation for being occasionally blustery.

One of the stars of the week looks likely to be the 22-year-old amateur Ingrid Lindblad who flirted with the lead before finishing T11th in last week's US Women's Open and plays golf at the host.

She faces a mammoth task to overcome what is sure to be a giddy local media so we'll look elsewhere and, although I like the chances of 18-year-old Slovenian star Pia Babnik (who has defeated mixed fields on mini tours), her odds don't provide us with much value.

First pick, therefore, is an American who is a three-time winner on the DP World Tour, who has started to find a bit of form in recent weeks, and who might find the Halmstad test suits him very well.

John Catlin fought hard to find himself playing on the main tours, negotiating a route there via the Canadian Tour, the Asian Development circuit and then the Asian Tour.

Late in the disrupted 2020 DP World Tour season he jumped into life during a glittering late summer/early autumn that saw him warm up nicely with T25th at The Belfry and then add victories at Valderrama and Galgorm Castle either side of tied eighth at Dom Pedro.

Those wins in blustery spots between the trees in Spain and Ireland look like they'll read well this week.

Last season he added more triumph at Diamond Country Club in Austria and tied seventh on defence of his title at Galgorm Castle.

He's landed two top 25s in his last three starts with much improved Strokes Gained Tee to Green stats than he's had for a while.

If the course does suit he can take aim at win number four at this level.

Next Best: Jack Senior 1pt each-way @ 100/1

Englishman Jack Senior has decent experience of playing in an event such as this, finishing tied fourth in the Jordan Mixed Open in early 2019.

He's also got decent experience on parkland tracks in northern Europe.

He threatened to win, did win and then threatened to win again at Spey Valley in the Scottish Highlands on the Challenge Tour, experienced his first end-of-round lead on the second tier at the Royal GC in Copenhagen, thrashed a 63 at Katrineholms in Sweden, and preceded Catlin as a winner at Galgorm Castle.

I also like that his best-ever effort on the DP World Tour came at tree-lined Randpark in South Africa.

joakim lagergren 2022.jpg

Final Bet: Joakim Lagergren 1pt each-way @ 66/1

I was tempted for the final pick by the South African Darren Fichardt who is another who might easily prove his big price wrong if the tree-lined fairways prompt his best golf.

The same might be said of Sweden's Joakim Lagergren, however, and he's a little more sprightly than the 47-year-old Fichardt.

It requires a bit of faith with Lagergren because he's been in miserable form for most of the season before bursting from the blocks last week in Germany and hanging around all week for a share of fifth.

He's proved in the past that he can find form from nowhere and also that after one good effort he's well capable of adding another very quickly.

His most consistently very good golf has come by the ocean, many times in and around St Andrews, also when winning at Verdura on Sicily.

But he's another winner at Galgorm Castle and it's not the only time he has thrived when the fairways are close to the trees.

He's also been tied fourth at Barseback (also home turf, but admittedly on the third tier), tied third at Dar es Salaam, tied sixth at Carya, tied third at Milano and tied third at Delhi.

* Having difficulty working out the place returns? Fret no more - you can easily work out your returns with our new each way calculator.