Scandinavian Masters

FINAL RESULT: 2-1; +16.88pts

Hensby 1st
Stenson 2nd
Hedblom 46th

Has to be a pleasing week when two selections battle it out in a playoff for the title! Just a little disappointing that Hensby holed a monster putt on the last green to earn the playoff and deny a further 4.5pts profit.

Outright plays (total stake per play: 1.5pts)

Mark Hensby to win 16/1 e.w. @ SkyBet, Bet365 and Victor Chandler
Arguably the best player on view this week, albeit against a surprisingly weak representation from higher echelons of the European Tour. The four players with the best records in majors this year are Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen ... and Mark Hensby. He stayed over in Germany to watch the F1 Grand Prix after his roller-coaster week at St. Andrews and makes his second appearance in Europe this week. Against such a weak home Tour field and with the course being used only once in the last four years, he should go very close.

Henrik Stenson to win 22/1 e.w. @ BetInternet
With a runners-up spot last year at Barseback, Stenson also went close, but in reality he did finish five shots behind Luke Donald and he did finish with four straight birdies to get that near to him. But a 2nd place finish in front of his home crowd should benefit him this year given how strongly this event is supported, plus he did win a Challenge Tour event in Sweden in 2000. The weather did him no favours last week - he was the first round leader and was in 2nd place after 54 holes, but it was a difficult final day with 36 holes being played on Sunday - but it confirmed his form and if Stenson, one of the best tee-to-green players on Tour, does find himself in contention against this week, he will have some very vociferous support.

Peter Hedblom to win 40/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes and Coral
So would Hedblom if he were to be in contention on Sunday and he has been doing that regularly in the past couple of months. He led the BMW Championship after the 2nd and 3rd round before faltering to finish 5th; he was in contention for the U.S. Open before a poor start to his final round saw him finish down in 11th place; and he finished 19th and 8th in his next two European Tour starts. Together with two top-10 finishes in the last four years in this event (and no worse than 31st in the other two years), he is clearly a player who should contend again this week. Probably better suited for the place market, but against such a weak European Tour field, he cannot be discounted from claiming his second European Tour title.