-
Men dominate market for tournament in Sweden
-
In-play betting is perfect for mixed event
-
Read Steve's Memorial Tournament preview
Tournament History
The Scandinavian Mixed replaced the Scandinavian Masters, an event in existence since 1991, three years ago so this is only the fourth edition of the tournament in this format.
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 is equally split between men and 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.
Jonathan Caldwell won the first edition at Vallda Golf & Country Club, an in-form Linn Grant romped to a nine-stroke victory at Halmstad Golf Club two years ago and Dale Whitnell took the title 12 months ago at Ullna Golf & Country Club.
Venue
The Tournament Course, Vasatorps Golfklubb, Helsingborg, Sweden
Course Details
Par 72
Men's Yardage 7,295
Ladies' Yardage 6,342
There are 54 holes on the Vasatorps Golfklubb Estate but this week's event is staged on the Tournament Course.
The estate hosted the Scandinavian Open between 1978 and 1980, a couple of Challenge Tour events in the 1990s, the Compaq Open on the LET in 2002 and another LET event - the Helsingborg Open - between 2013 and 2015, so we don't have too much to go on and nothing recent.
Finished in 2008 and designed by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest, the Tournament Course is a mixture of parkland and faux links holes and it certainly appears more linksy in style than the older Classic Course.
We obviously have very little to go on but the greens are described as undulating.
Weather Forecast
TV Coverage
Live on Sky Sports all four days, staring at 12:00 on Thursday
First Three Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices
2022 - Jonathan Caldwell -17 200.0199/1
2023 - Linn Grant -24 50.049/1
2024 - Dale Whitnell -21 350.0349/1
Linn's win looks like a one-off
Having won the Belgian Ladies Open two weeks earlier in her penultimate start, Sweden's Linn Grant was matched at no bigger than 60.059/1 before the off two years ago and she was a very easy winner.
Grant began the final round leading by two and trading at around 2.47/5 but it wasn't long before she put the event to bed, birdying five of the first six holes in round four, and she went on to win by an incredible nine strokes.
It was fantastic for the tournament to see a woman win in such style but Grant aside, the men have pretty much dominated the event.
The 13 players immediately below Grant two years ago were all men and at the inaugural staging in 2022, 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 three years ago 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, then drove into the water at the 17th. To her credit, she made a great par save on the 18th but, having begun round four in a tie for the lead, she shot 76 to finish tied for 18th.
Grant was in a league of her own two years ago but the men dominated again last year. As many as nine of the top-11 were men and none of the women ever looked like winning.
The market is dominated by men and rightly so. It looks like Linn's win could well have been a one-off.
Should we look to the Hills for clues?
As Matt Cooper highlights in his each-way piece, Arthur Hills also designed Keene Trace in Kentucky, which hosts the Barbasol Championship each year, and along with Steve Forrest, who's also worked on the Tournament Course at Vasatorps, he also designed the Hills Golf Clun in Molndal, just outside Gothenburg.
The Hills opened in 2004, four years before the Tournament Course at Vasatorps and it hosted this event in both 2018 and 2019, before the format change.
With so little to go on, the leaderboards there may be worth checking out, but neither of the two winners - Erik Van Rooyen and Paul Waring - are in the line-up this week.
In-Play Tactics
The last two winners have won very easily and there was very little drama in-running. But Australia's Jason Scrivener, a pre-tournament 40.039/1 shot, was matched at a low of 1.68/13 during round three of the inaugural edition in this format and the runner-up, Adrian Otaegui, hit a low of just 1.444/9 three years ago.
It's unusual to see just one player go odds-on in these sort of low grade affairs, where nerves come into play, and laying anyone that goes odds-on very often pays off.
If you can get two players layed at odds-on you'll be in profit regardless of who goes on to win and it's often a great way to play these sort of events.
If you're new to the Betfair Exchange, this is a good little guide into how to place a lay bet.
Market Leaders
Rasmus Hojgaard missed the cut last week, but battled back brilliantly on Friday with a five-under-par 68 after shooting 80 on day one.
If he can build on that he may well contend but with form figures reading 29-W-MC-68-MC, in an event in which outsiders have dominated so far, I'm more than happy to swerve the Dane.
Sweden's Sebastian Soderburg, who was tied for fifth at the Hills Club back in 2019, should arguably be trading ahead of Hojgaard in the market.
The 33-year-old finished 68th in the US PGA Championship last time out but prior to that he'd finished second in India and Japan and third in China so he's been in fine fettle of late.
In-play the way to go
Matt makes a great case for Vincent Norman in his each-way piece, and I've had a tiny bet on him at 48.047/1, but with so little to go on, I'm more than happy to leave this event alone before the off and take a look in-running.