The Nordea Masters is the biggest golf tournament in Sweden and every year it is becoming a bigger deal on the European Tour. As well as the best Swedish players, a good selection of Europe’s best regularly make the trip and that is certainly the case for the 2016 renewal. There is, of course, an extra incentive for the likes of Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood to play this week, with vital ranking points for the Ryder Cup to play for.
As the de facto Swedish national event, the Nordea Masters travels to the best courses that the country has to offer and this year they may just have stopped off at the best of the lot. Bro Hof Slott is a relatively young course having only been opened in 2007 but the venue has already won a host of awards for its two courses. The field this week are going to tee it up around the Stadium Course, a truly stunning layout that requires a great deal of distance off the tee.
The Stadium Course measures a huge 7,511 yards and the way that the par 72 is set up gives a real boost to the longer hitters. Not only are the fairways relatively wide and open but the wind can really whip up so many holes often play longer than their official yardage. There are also five par fives for the bombers to take advantage of and previous tournaments at this venue prove that it is vital to make the most of the scoring opportunities that they present.
Henrik Stenson may have recently turned 40 but there is no sign of the world number six losing any of the power that has been a feature of his game long before he turned pro. The Swedish number one will give the ball as big a hit as anybody else in the field this week but he is going to have to improve with his putter if he is to finally get over the line to win a tournament that has alluded him for the best part of two decades. Stenson is carefully managing his calendar but was never going to miss this week and the bookies’ favourite should go well at odds of 15/2 with Betfred.
Just below Stenson in the betting is Lee Westwood. The Englishman was very disappointed with his finish to the week at Wentworth when he failed to put any sort of pressure on the leaders on Sunday but in general his game held up well. Westwood is doing all he can to make sure he continues his perfect attendance at the Ryder Cup since 1997 and he won this event at this course in 2012 so a bet at 14/1 with BetVictor is very tempting.
Scott Hend is another who was very poor on Sunday at Wentworth. He went into Sunday as one of the favourites but his game almost completely escaped him as the pressure ramped up. He is though, a winner already this season, and one of the biggest hitters in the field. If he can bounce back well from last week he’ll represent good value at 50/1 with Ladbrokes.
- See also: Memorial Tournament