The DP World Tour moves on to the Scandavian Mixed which – as the name implies – features men and women competing over the same 72 holes in stroke-play format. Men off the men’s tees and women off the women’s. Damian Kayat previews.
2024 DP World Tour/ Ladies European Tour
Scandinavian Mixed
The Tournament Course at Vasatorps Golfklubb
6-9 June 2024
Laurie Canter took advantage of some loopholes last week, winning his second DP World Tour despite still being a low-ranked member of the LIV Tour. It was a victory with some symbolic power that points towards a future where players are probably going to be able to switch quite organically between all of the major tours (I know, calling LIV a major tour is taking me some time to get used to).
The Tour moves swiftly on to one of its latest, more gimmicky inventions: the Scandinavian Mixed. Recently retired DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley really did leave no stone unturned when trying to revitalise the dormant DP World Tour schedule.
This event replaced the old Scandinavian Masters and looked to bridge the significant gender gap in the sport. Men and women would play the same 72 holes in classical stroke-play format (the men playing off the men’s tees and the women playing off the women’s). The issue is that- aside from Linn Grant’s incredible nine-shot victory two years ago- men have largely dominated this event since its inception (this will just be the fourth edition of this experimental event).
Scandinavian Mixed
This has been a nomadic event since its creation and this will be the fourth host course in four editions. Jonathan Caldwell won the inaugural event hosted at Vallda for his first top-20 finish of that season (he hasn’t had one since).
Grant obviously romped home to victory two years ago while Dale Whitnell came from nowhere to win last year’s event. Long story short: you don’t have to be a massive favourite to compete in this tournament).
The Tournament Course at Vasatorps Golfklubb
This week’s event will be hosted on the Tournament Course at Vasatorps Golfklubb. Designed by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest and finished in 2008, the tournament course is a mixture of traditional parkland holes and pseudo-linksy holes (this event is played six kilometres inland).
Having said that, it does tend to have more of an overall linksy vibe. The course looks a little bit longer than some of the recent renewals (it is nearly 7,300 yards for the men). That may be an attempt to try create more parity in the so-called ‘battle of the sexes’.
I know we don’t have much to go on but I foresee a very low-scoring affair. Look for players who can make plenty of birdies and perhaps those with a bit of links know-how.
The Contenders
Rasmus Hojgaard missed the cut last week after a horror-show opening round of 80 but he did fight back with a five-under-par Friday. He has been in pretty dismal recent form and still doesn’t seem to have fully recovered from narrowly missing out on securing his PGA Tour card.
I really don’t understand how Hogaard is trading ahead of Sebastian Soderberg. The Swede has accumulated some really impressive recent form and this is just a classic example of reputation trumping commonsense.
Elsewhere, the likes of Yannick Paul and Alex Fitzpatrick remain perennial threats in these pretty dire fields. One positive bit of news this week: it’s nice not to see Jordan Smith not leading the markets (he isn’t in action this week). Linn Grant is trading at 28/1 and is probably still the most likely woman to gatecrash this party.
Past Winners
2023: Dale Whitnell
2022: Linn Grant
2021: Jonathan Caldwell
To Win Outright:
Rasmus Hojgaard 14/1 | Sebastian Soderberg 18/1 | Jesper Svensson 22/1 | Alexander Bjork 22/1 | Yannick Paul 25/1
Value Bets
Conner Syme- To Win 30/1 | To Place 13/2
I’m hoping that Conner Syme can look at Laurie Canter’s performance last week and use it as a springboard for his maiden DP World Tour title. He has put himself into numerous winning positions since winning the Turkish Airlines Open on the Challenge Tour back in 2019. The Scot has entered Sunday within the top three on the DP World Tour leaderboard on ten occasions. It has already happened twice this season, with Syme sitting third at the Kenya Open and tied for the lead at the SDC Championship after 54 holes. I’m hoping he can feed off Macintyre’s huge Canadian win and maybe exploit some of the more linksy holes out there. He finished 22nd in Germany last week, finishing 3rd in SG: Approach.
Calum Hill- To Win 40/1 | To Place 17/2
I’m also hoping that Calum Hill can draw some confidence from Robert Macintyre’s inspirational performance last week. The two actually used to share a coach and come from a similar age group. Hill’s only previous win came a London GC, which seems to be as sprawling and exposed as Vasatorps. He is coming off back-to-back top 20 finishes and his approach play has started to show real signs of improvement.
The Man to Beat- Sebastian Soderberg- To Win 18/1 | To Place 39/10
Swede Sebastian Soderberg is not only a home favourite, he is by far the most in-form player in this field. He has five top-10 finishes this season (including three top-three finishes in his last four events). He made the cut at Valhalla and he has played well at another Hills-Forrest co-design: the Hills Golf Club in Molndal. He finished T5 there in 2019 (when this event was still known as the Scandinavian Masters).
