In terms of the number of participants, it was in 2007 that Sweden peaked in the US Masters with as many as five players in the starting field.
15 years later it looks different. When the first round of the prestigious major began on Thursday, it was completely without Swedish representation, which has not happened since 1996.
– It’s very boring, of course. I think everyone who plays and loves golf thinks so. But it does reflect a bit what it looks like today, says Katarina Vangdal.
The Swedish national team captain i golf says that it is a mix of reasons that are the reason why Sweden has had a hard time asserting itself at the international top level on the men’s side in recent years, but specifically emphasizes one reason as the main one.
– What we want to see are more Swedish men who make an investment in the USA, who enter the PGA Tour and thus have a greater chance of getting a world ranking that makes them join the majors. We have a bunch of guys on the European Tour, but there you have to win and make very good results if you are to make it into the top 50 in the world, says Vangdal.
– Katarina Vangdal wants to see more Swedish men’s golfers move to and pursue their venture in the USA.
Photo: Björn Lindgren / TT
– On the women’s side, we see a completely different development. There, the European Tour was in such poor condition at a certain time that there was no alternative. Then we were involved in creating conditions in the United States.
Since 2017, the Swedish Golf Association has in collaboration with the Swedish Sports Confederation and the Swedish Olympic Committee, rented accommodation and had agreements with several courses in the American state of Arizona to help Swedish women golfers establish themselves in the USA.
– Now we try to provide the same conditions on the men’s side. You can never force players to move anywhere, but we try to provide the conditions for it to be possible to make such an investment over there, says Vangdal.
In recent times, it is mainly the 70s who have delivered results, with the exception of Alex Norén (born 1982). As 55th in the world rankings, he failed this time to qualify for the US Masters by a narrow margin.
– Ludvig Åberg is one of Swedish men’s golf’s future hopes.
Photo: Christian Örnberg / Bildbyrån
Katarina Vangdal believes, however not that it will be too long before Sweden is back in the hot air and mentions future names such as 22-year-old Ludvig Åberg (third in the world rankings for amateurs), Pontus Nyholm, 24, and Vincent Norrman, 24, who were all born in the late 90’s century and has chosen to pursue its venture in the United States.
– Now we have a younger generation of guys that we believe in quite a lot. But we will not notice it until in a couple, three years, says the league captain and adds:
– It’s brightening on the horizon but right now this is how it looks. We do not have more at present, but hope we can see a turnaround in the future.