South African Dylan Frittelli was two shots behind home hero Sebastian Söderberg after the first round of the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed on Thursday.
Söderberg already had three top 10s in the 2024 season when he finished second, second and third in consecutive events to top the Asian Swing and earn a place at the US PGA Championship.
He made the cut in his second Major championship appearance last time out and brought that momentum to Vasatorps Golfklubb, carding a bogey-free 63 to get to nine under, with Frittelli and England’s Alex Fitzpatrick at seven under, Malaysia’s Gavin Green at six under, and Scottish duo Scott Jamieson and David Law and South African Louis de Jager were at five under.
In the event where 78 men and 78 women play in the same groups for one prize fund and one trophy, Ladies European Tour players Linn Grant and Lauren Walsh were in the group four shots off the lead, with South Africans Casandra Alexander and Lee-Ann Pace both at three under.
At fifth on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex, Söderberg is the highest-placed player without a win in 2024 but his form suggests that will not be the case for long.
He has made 11 cuts from 11 so far this season, finishing in the top 10 in more than half of his starts as he looks to add to his win in Switzerland in 2019.
His effort on Thursday was his third 63 of the season and he was happy to give the home crowds something to cheer in the third event of the European Swing.
“There’s a lot of family and friends here and it’s easy to put extra pressure on yourself wanting to play good in front of them,” he said.
“I did feel a little extra adrenaline on the 1st tee which doesn’t happen that often on Thursday but I got off to a good start and it was nice to have everyone out there the whole day.
“I felt like I hit my driver a little longer than I usually do and that gave me a few shorter clubs in, every miss was in the right spot and I gave myself a lot of good chances and the putter was quite hot. I saw the lines good and rolled them in and it was a pretty solid day.”
Söderberg got off to a fast start with smart approaches into the 1st and 2nd before he got up and down from the sand at the par-five 6th and played a stunner to four feet at the 8th to turn in 32.
He missed from 12 feet for eagle at the par-five 10th but made no such mistake after a carbon-copy shot at the 12th and he was alongside Frittelli in the lead.
An approach to 16 feet at the 15th was followed by a long putt at the next and the 33-year-old had jumped out to a two-shot lead.
Frittelli set the early pace and for a long time looked like he would not be caught before Söderberg made his move.
The Bahrain Championship champion got up and down on the 10th and left himself 10 feet at the next before making a hat-trick of gains around his turn.
He holed from 40 feet on the 17th, half that distance on the 18th and put an approach to six feet on the 1st before getting up and down from the sand at the 6th and chipping in at the 8th.
Fitzpatrick also made three birdies in a row from the 17th: holing from 28 feet there, 13 feet on the 18th and getting down from off the green at the 1st.
A stunning second to 14 feet then set up an eagle at the 3rd before he got up and down from a bunker at the 6th and put an approach to nine feet at the 7th.
Green made a remarkable par save on the 9th – his final hole – after finding the rocks to go with eight birdies and two bogeys.
Swede Grant, who was the DP World Tour’s first female winner after lifting this trophy in 2022, cancelled out a double-bogey with an eagle while also making five birdies, while Ireland’s Walsh was bogey-free.
– Edited report from DP World website
