Course Overview. To add to the intrigue this week, we’re moving to yet another new venue for this event, this time to Vasatorps Golf Club which sits towards the south-west of Sweden and to the north of Malmo.
With 54 holes on the estate of varying styles to work with, American Steve Forrest developed the Tournament Course here in 2008 which is a mix of 9 ‘old’ holes that are tree-lined and generally parkland in style, plus 9 ‘new’ holes that are more exposed and somewhat inland linksy in their appearance.
Listed as a 7,295 yard par 72 for the men and presumably a fair amount shorter for the women, although yardages haven’t been confirmed at the time of writing, the layout is on paper a little longer than those used for previous renewals of this event, although whether that materially changes things remains to be seen.
The estate has hosted Scandinavian Open events back in the 1970s and 80s as well as lower grade and women’s golf a little more recently, however in its current guise we’re working from a blank canvas this week.
With a 484 yard Par 5 and 326 yard Par 4 on the opening 9, the front side is shorter than the back although how difficult or easy this course plays remains to be seen,
Tournament Stats. We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s event. Current form stats feature both men’s and women’s results from their respective Tours, and the combined stats include the last three years’ worth of results, however as noted the venue has changed again this year: Current Form | First Round Leader Stats | Event Stats | Combined Stats.
Event Winners. 2023, Dale Whitnell, 140/1; 2022, Linn Grant, 28/1; 2021, Jonathan Caldwell, 150/1
Weather Forecast. The latest weather forecast for Helsingborg is here.
Sunshine and showers is the order of the day throughout this week’s tournament with temperatures hovering around the 15 Centigrade (59 Fahrenheit) level in the afternoons. The breeze will be noticeable without being excessive, with a fairly constant 10-15mph blowing across the course and gusts up to 25mph, particularly on Saturday.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors. With only three editions of the Scandinavian Mixed to go on, each of which played on different courses, this week is still a guessing game to a large degree.
Historically these attempts to mix the men’s and women’s game have resulted in a male-heavy leaderboard, however it would appear that organisers got the format just about right in 2021 with 2 men and 2 women sharing the lead heading into the final day. In the end, Jonathan Caldwell grabbed his first win outside of the EuroPro Tour, holding off Adrian Otaegui by a stroke with Alice Hewson a shot further back. You had to venture into a tie for 10th for the next LET player to appear, however given that the 54-hole leaderboard was more even, that may well be down to the variance of Sunday finishes rather than any gender bias.
The 2022 win for Linn Grant – by a runaway 9 strokes in the end – further reinforces this point, although you have to head all the way down to 15th place to find the next LET player so caution still needs to be advised.
Ann Van Dam and Gabriella Cowley finished 3rd and 5th last year to reward each-way backers, however the rest of the top 10 was male-dominated so a fairly common theme is beginning to emerge as we build up more history.
Field skill stats and Strokes Gained numbers exist for the whole field from all three renewals, however given we’re on an entirely new track that’s largely irrelevant in my view, so judging the course here in Helsingborg on its specification is the preferred route for me.
Incoming Form. The recent form of our three event winners to date was very different, which goes some way to explaining the odds differential between Linn Grant in 2022 (28/1) versus the 150/1 available about Jonathan Caldwell the year before and Dale Whitnell at 140/1 12 months ago:
- 2023, Dale Whitnell: 26/10/78/28/12/9/32/MC/MC/MC/81/MC
- 2022, Linn Grant: 57/65/MC/23/18/2/2/1/7/7/13/1
- 2021, Jonathan Caldwell: MC/MC/MC/MC/57/MC/21/42/MC/65/31/MC
Grant was undeniably in great form heading into this event 2 years ago, arriving off the back of her second win of the season at the Belgian Ladies Open a fortnight before which backed up her success in Joburg in March.
Caldwell, on the other hand, had a season’s best finish of 21st in Gran Canaria 6 weeks before and had missed the cut in Germany on his last start, however there were a few signs of life with rounds of 65 & 67 (twice) on his previous two starts to suggest that his game wasn’t a million miles away – if you can ignore the poor rounds that flanked those efforts of course.
Dale Whitnell though would have taken a serious leap of faith to back on current form alone. 10th in Abu Dhabi and 9th in Thailand at the start of the year was positive, however 5-event form of MC/MC/MC/81/MC prior to his victory hardly suggested that success was impending.
My selections are as follows:
