Tournament History
Co-hosted by Sweden's two most famous golfers, Annika Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson, the Scandinavian Mixed replaced the Scandinavian Masters, an event in existence since 1991, 12 months ago so this is only the second edition of the tournament in this format.
The first edition of the Scandinavian Mixed was intended to be played in 2020 but it was one of many to be lost to the pandemic.
Co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and the Ladies European Tour (LET), the Scandinavian Mixed is just like any other 72-hole stroke play event with the field playing one course for one prize fund and for one trophy. The men will play from the men's tees, and the ladies from the ladies' tees.
The field of 156 is equally split between 78 men and 78 women, the groupings over the first two days will be mixed, and there'll be a cut after 36 holes with the top-65 and ties progressing to the weekend.
Venue
Halmstad GC, Tylösand, Sweden.
Course Details
Par 72
Men's Yardage 6,909
Ladies' Yardage 5,940
After just one edition at Vallda Golf & Country Club, the Scandinavian Mixed moves to Halmstad in Tylösand - a tricky, tree-lined track with a number of dog-legged holes.
Halmstad has hosted a couple of events previously, including the Skandia PGA Open in 2002 on the Challenge Tour the LET's Chrysler Open in 2000, but they're so long ago that we're pretty much in the dark.
Gary Murphy was second at Halmstad back in 2002 so I asked him what his recollection of the venue was, and he described it as narrow but short and he compared it to Barsebäck Golf & Country Club (home for this event nine times between 1999 and 2017), as well as the European Masters venue, Crans (without the altitude) and Woburn, which staged the British Masters in 1999 and 2000.
Gary went on to tell me.
"I actually think I didn't play a practice round so it's all in front of you."
Andy Swales has had a little look at the venue in his piece here and Matt Cooper adds a little more (including fragrance details!) in his each-way column.
TV Coverage
Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at midday on Thursday.
Stick with the men
At last year's inaugural staging I was hopeful that the women could make an impact and I will be again this time around but the simple truth is that the men largely dominated the tournament and that will probably be the case again this year.
Alice Hewson finished third but the only other woman to finish inside the top-17 places was Olivia Cowan who finished tied for 10th.
Sweden's Caroline Hedwall coped better than most in the challenging and worsening conditions on Saturday and when she had a putt on the par five 16th to go three clear of the field she was matched at a low of just 2.6213/8 but it all went a bit pear-shaped after that.
Hedwell missed the birdie attempt and then drove into the water at the 17th. To her credit, she made a great par save on the 18th but having began round four in a tie for the lead with Hewson, Rhys Enoch and Jason Scrivener, she shot 76 to finish tied for 18th.
In-Play Tactics
This is a low grade affair and the chances are we'll witness plenty of drama on Sunday - as we did last year.
The winner, Jonathan Caldwell, began round four trailing by three in a tie for 10th and trading at around 160.0159/1. He was matched at 340.0339/1 in-running and he wasn't the only player to trade at odds-on.
Spain's Adrian Otaegui was matched at a low of 1.444/9 but he three-putted the final green to lose by one and we witness those sorts of dramas week in and week out on the DP World Tour.
Taking on anyone that goes odds-on is the way to go. It's very rare that only one player dips below evens on a Sunday on the DP World Tour.
Market Leaders
It's four years since Alex Noren won his 10th and last DP World Tour event (the Open de France) so at first glance, odds of around 10/1 may look a bit short but he's far and away the most likely winner and that looks more than fair.
Back-to-back missed cuts, at the US PGA Championship and the Memorial Tournament don't represent brilliant current form but he was 12th in the Byron Nelson before that and he's also finished sixth at the Phoenix Open, fifth at the Honda Classic and 12th at the Valspar Championship this season.
That PGA Tour form is head and shoulders above most of the form on offer in what really is a weak event, and he has a very strong record in his homeland with seven top-12s that include a pair of victories in this event when called the Nordea Masters. He's the man to beat.
As a demonstration of just how strong a favourite Noren is, the second favourite, Alexander Bjork, is in search of his second victory, four years after his first, and the third favourite, Edoardo Molinari, is looking to win for the second time in 12 years!
The Italian won twice in 2010 to make the Ryder Cup team but his playoff win over Paul Dunne at the low-grade Trophee Hassan II in 2017 is sole success since.
Selection
I may have an outsider or two here in the Find Me a 100 Winner column tomorrow but for now I'm happy to kick things off with a modest bet on Noren.
The two weekends off are a slight concern but they were in a much higher grade and he could prove very hard to beat if he plays like he did three starts ago in Texas.
Noren is the only player in the world's top-100 in the field (ranked 60th) and the next best is Johannes Veerman, who's currently ranked 143rd.
Selection:
Alex Noren @ 11.521/2
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