After a major disappointment at Wentworth
last week the form Australian of the 2016 European Tour season, Scott Hend,
will be looking to bounce back immediately at this week’s Nordea Masters in
Sweden.
After a major disappointment at Wentworth
last week the form Australian of the 2016 European Tour season, Scott Hend,
will be looking to bounce back immediately at this week’s Nordea Masters in
Sweden.
Hend has already shown his capacity to
regroup this year, his win in Thailand in March coming just a week after his
worst performance of the year at the previous week’s WGC Cadillac event in
Florida.
At 43 years of age, Hend is playing the
best golf of his career and even in his disastrous final round last week showed
tenacity.
Despite dropping nine shots in his first 11
holes, Hend managed to find an eagle and a birdie over the closing stages to
stop the bleeding and that attitude will stand him in good stead this week.
The Nordea Masters returns to the Bro Hof
Slott GC this week for the first time since 2013 and it was at this venue where
Hend posted his best finish in the tournament, a T4 in 2011.
He will have those memories to draw on as
he looks to overcome a difficult week with a good result for the second time in
2016.
Also keen to atone for a poor week at
Wentworth will be Jason Scrivener whose opening round 84 was a shock to all who
have followed his results this season.
Scrivener played his way into the field as
one of the top-2 money earners to come out of last year’s Qualifying School but
showed little of that form in the opening two rounds.
The 26-year-old was suffering a head cold
at the start of the week as a result of a hectic travel schedule in the lead up
and that may have contributed to the five double bogies he posted on Thursday
and his 76 on Friday.
Clearly, Scrivener is a vastly better
player than those two rounds suggest and he will be motivated to get back to
his best this week when he plays in Sweden for just the second time.
Hend and Scrivener lead a nine strong
Australian contingent this week with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox also a starter.
European Tour members Andrew Dodt, Richard
Green and Brett Rumford are all in the field, joined by Challenge Tour players
Scott Arnold, Terry Pilkadaris, Dimi Papadatos and Daniel Gaunt.
Gaunt comes off a harrowing miss at US Open
qualifying at Walton Heath earlier in the week where a double bogey at the
final hole ultimately cost him a place in the year’s second major.
However, his play at last week’s Czech
Challenge was his best of the year, a second round 64 helping him to a T4 finish,
and it is that form he will be looking to draw on this week.