In 2019, the last edition of the Sweden tournament of the DP World Tour was held before becoming mixed. That year it was called the Scandinavian Invitation and it was something like the last in line of the European calendar, the week everyone marked in red to take a break and recharge batteries. Speaking plainly, nobody played it and all categories were included. You almost had to call to be able to complete the tournament. In 2019, with victory of Erik Van Rooyen, nobody was left out. Even golfers from the Challenge Tour who finished the previous year between 31st and 45th in the ranking and only 36 of those who kept the card the previous year in the DP World Tour showed up, not even a third.
Well, four editions later (in 2020 it was not played due to the pandemic), there is not a pin in the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed. It has gone from being a pariah in the calendar to the great bargain of the season. Speaking plainly, nobody wants to miss it. The data is unequivocal. Not even all the players who kept the card last year in the Race to Dubai have managed to get into the tournament. Jeong Weon Ko and Ross Fisher have been left out and Ángel Hidalgo, who finished 108th in the ranking in 2023, entered last Sunday. Something never seen in these parts.
Logically, the comparison cannot be established only with 2019, since at that time it was not mixed, the girls of the Ladies European Tour did not play, which is why more golfers from the DP World Tour entered, specifically twice as many. However, the evolution has been impressive even being already a mixed tournament. In 2021, first edition shared with the Ladies European Tour, up to 23 categories entered. Only one reserve was left out, curiously Tom Kim, who came from the Asian Tour. In 2022, 16 categories entered, up to those who finished in 162nd place in the Race to Dubai. And in 2023, last year, look at the evolution, 14 categories entered. Two players from the Challenge Tour ranking accessed. In 2024 those from the Challenge Tour have not even smelled the possibility of entering this tournament.
What has happened? Why has it become a bargain? Why, suddenly, does everyone want to play it? Well, very simple, because it distributes 3,000 points of the Race to Dubai, the same as the European Open last week, and the girls do not count in the distribution of points. The best example is that of 2022. The tournament was won by Linn Grant and Henrik Stenson and Marc Warren finished in second and third place. Well, the Swede and the Scot, as if Grant did not exist, shared the points for finishing first and second.
Another example: if a player from the DP World Tour finishes this week in 20th place and has seven golfers from the Ladies European Tour ahead, he takes the points for having finished in thirteenth position. In short, it has come to be considered by the players a bargain. In addition to this juicy distribution of points because undoubtedly the competition to pass the cut and finish up is less than another week where only boys play. Despite playing a shorter course, the difference is notable. Last year of the almost 80 golfers who passed the cut, barely a quarter were women. This is the main reason why entering in Sweden has become almost as difficult as playing Scotland or Wentworth. And in the tournament, they are very happy, since they have better participation than before.
By the way, the same does not happen with the prize money. In the distribution of the two million dollars, they do enter equally. That is, Linn Grant took the cash prize for finishing first and Stenson and Warren shared the loot reserved for the second and third.
The most curious part of this story is that among the girls the same does not happen. The Ladies European Tour does not do the same as the DP World. For the LET, the boys do count in the distribution of points. That is, if a player finishes in 24th place, she takes the points that correspond to that position, even if there are twenty players ahead. It is an obvious inequality and some call it unfair. From the LET they understand that as there are not many players who pass the cut, it would be creating an imbalance. A golfer who finishes in 60th place in the tournament could take the points of a sixteenth, for example. Too much imbalance.
