Nordea Masters Preview, Betting Tips and Odds
Expect fun, expect noise, expect a lot of yellow and blue – this year’s Nordea Masters is going to be one long and happy party.
Always a popular stop on the European Tour schedule, this year it will be a non-stop celebration. Ahead of last week’s BMW PGA Championship it was already set up to be a festival to honour Henrik Stenson’s victory in last year’s Open Championship, the first major win by any Swede in the men’s game.
But with Alex Noren claiming Europe’s second most prestigious title, the excitement levels are going to be off the charts.
For Stenson it will be an extra special week because the tournament returns to his home club, Barseback G&CC, and he has a summer house round the corner.
The event often attracts crowds of more than 100,000 and it’s not out of the question that this week will smash previous records.
Stenson is a four-time top five finisher in the Masters and has twice been runner-up, but he’s yet to claim the title. There will be a wave of excitement should he get into contention and attempt to break his duck in the most spectacular manner imaginable.
He’ll face competition from Noren and the dream scenario is a final round head-to-head battle between not just two of Sweden’s finest, but Europe’s too.
The huge crowds and massive media interest might inspire other Swedes to flourish. Look out for the veteran Robert Karlsson, for whom this will be a proud week, confirmed tour winners Rikard Karlberg, Peter Hanson and Richard S Johnson, plus the more youthful likes of Joakim Lagergren, Alex Bjork and Johan Carlsson – the latter two showed some promise last week at Wentworth.
Last year
Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston had completed a superb finish at Wentworth the week before and rode the wave, posting a 67 in round one to take a share of the lead, but fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick carded a wonderful Friday 65 to take a three-shot lead.
On Saturday Fitzpatrick added a 68 to extend his advantage to five over the field, laughing in the face of the three missed cuts he had made in the run-up to the tournament. Henrik Stenson and Nicolas Colsaerts made final day charges, but Fitzpatrick’s 71 was enough to claim the title and more or less guarantee his place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team.
The course – Barseback G&CC
The Masters Course has hosted the tournament on nine occasions, the first in 1992, when Nick Faldo claimed the trophy. Home winners Jesper Parnevik (1995) and Joakim Haeggman (1997) followed before foreign raiders took the honours. It’s a largely tree-lined layout, but some of the holes hit an open stretch of coastline and widen out. The course record is 67 (posted by Lee Slattery in 2009) and the par is a slightly unusual 73 with just one back nine par-3.
Winner’s profile
When the tournament was last held at Barseback, the big-hitting Ricardo Gonzalez from Argentina prevailed despite a third-round 77. Because of his power from the tee he is often assumed to need a wide course – and yet history shows that he tends to thrive on tight courses (he has won at the tricky Crans-sur-Sierre, Club de Campo in Madrid and Sevilla GC, and also has wins on traditional and tricky venues at home and in Kenya).
If that leads us towards tree-lined tracks then you might think Wentworth would act as good guide. The bad news is that Gonzalez has four top 30s there but no top ten. However other recent Barseback winners include Colin Montgomerie (three time winner at Wentworth, lover of tree-lined Woburn), Luke Donald (two-time Wentworth who also plays the very tight and sometimes coastal Harbour Town well) and Marc Warren (seven-time top 30 finisher at Wentworth including a play-off defeat).
Nordea Masters Favourites
Henrik Stenson
Although he’s an 11-time winner on the European Tour 41-year-old Stenson is, as mentioned above, yet to claim his home title. He was second at Barseback in 2004 and second again 12 months later at Kungsangen, and was also fifth in 2014 and fourth at Bro Hof Slott last year. He keeps banging on the door and last week’s tied third at Wentworth is a big boost after a poor start to spring which included four straight missed cuts. Noren’s stunning form might be a bonus in that it deflects some of the off-course attention away from the Open Champion.
Alex Noren
Last week’s stunning victory was his fifth in just 22 starts and leaves him ranked eighth in the world. The final round of 62, which set a target no-one could match, included eight birdies and one eagle. It was the first time a golfer emerged from outside the top 20 at the 54-hole stage to win on the European Tour since 2006. It was imperious and, unlike Stenson, Noren has crossed the finish line in this event. In fact he’s done it twice, in 2011 and 2015. Perhaps his biggest problem this week is keeping his feet on the ground after such spectacular success.
Lee Westwood
There was something grimly inevitable about last week’s final round. The Englishman started Sunday T3rd and ended it T14th. It was the seventh time in the last 12 months he has slipped from inside the top ten with 18 holes to play to outside it when he signed his card. The better news is that he has great fondness for this tournament since his victory in the 1996 event was the first of his 23 on the European Tour. Moreover he won it again in 2000 and 2012, whilst he was runner-up in 2001.
Matt Fitzpatrick
The defending champion rocked up to last year’s event having shot 74-78 the previous year and notched results reading MC-MC-MC-T47 prior to his arrival. Inauspicious stuff and yet no-one hit more greens than him all week and no-one scrambled better either as he waltzed to victory. He then missed four of his next six cuts and never finished better than T49th in that period. Work that out. In finishing T12th last week, including a final round of 67, he must feel like he’s in scintillating form in contrast to last year.
Chris Wood
Three visits to Sweden have produced middling efforts from the tall Englishman. He finished T18th in 2002, T22nd in 2012 and missed the cut in 2014. If keen on the Wentworth angle, however, he has to be in your sights, especially as last week’s T49th can be forgiven given he was defending the title. Before that he was tied fourth in the China Open. Should be ready to kick on with his 2017 season after the excitement of becoming a dad in March.
Alex Levy
The Frenchman has no course experience, but he does have an improving record in the tournament. He missed the cut on debut in 2013, clocked T25th in 2014 and then finished tied third 12 months ago. It often pays to follow him in countries he favours. He’d notched a third in Germany before winning the European Open there last year and he has a sensational record in China, including two wins. A four-time winner in total, that last was only two starts ago and he has three top-ten finishes in his last five starts.
About Matt Cooper
Matt Cooper is a contributor for Golf365, which has all the latest from tour events, plus news, features and course reviews.
