Fantasy Golf Predictions – 2017 Nordea Masters

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the Nordea Masters

The Nordea Masters European Tour Fantasy Preview

Last week’s BMW PGA Championship was the European Tour at its very best. Sometimes we can overlook the ‘dead’ weeks of inept fields and uninspired tournaments, and the complete inability to produce a working website/app, when events play out as entertainingly as the BMW did at the beautiful Wentworth last week.

A number of different players held the lead at various times throughout the four days, but as we know golf tournaments are not about how you start but rather how you finish: Alex Noren did this better than anyone else, carding a sublime final round of 62 to take the honors from Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson, and Nicolas Colsaerts.

A word of note before we move on to this week’s preview of the Nordea Masters. You may have noticed that the European Tour has changed their website and app, and while these both look shiny and pretty there are now NO stats or historical data present; an absolute travesty for daily fantasy enthusiasts.

Off the record, you can access the previous version of the European Tour website, updated until the BMW this week, by searching the social media channels of those in the know. Seek and you will find.

So, onto the Nordea Masters and the ever-stunning Sweden. The event stops by Barseback G&CC for the first time since 2009, so unfortunately we don’t have a huge bank of stats to work with (that’s assuming you can access the archived version of the ET website!).

What we do know is that this is a pretty mammoth track by European standards, with 7729 yards for its Par 73. There are still only four Par 5s and just one Par 3 on the back nine, and six of the eleven Par 4s measure 450 yards or more. Fairways are described as open and some holes are Links-style in nature, although the track is considered to be more parkland in character.

There’s no obvious angle in this week other than the big hitters *may* enjoy some kind of advantage, while noticeably the leaderboard at the Nordea Masters is packed with Scandinavian talents: 10 of the top 20 last year were Scandi by birth.

With all of the above in mind, who makes our draft this week?

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Our Nordea Masters European Tour Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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The Nordea Masters European Tour Fantasy Picks

Alex Noren – $11,100 – What can you say about this sensational Swede other than wow, what a player.

After a decent enough stint Stateside (T5 at the WGC Matchplay, T10 at THE PLAYERS Championship), Noren returned to Europe for the BMW PGA, and despite being nowhere after 54 holes he carded a final round of 62 to blitz the field and land a fifth title worldwide in less than a year.

It’s crazy hard to go back-to-back as we know, but in the past there has been evidence that Noren raises his game for his home championship. He has lifted the Nordea trophy twice in his last six attempts, with a stack of other good showings in Scandinavia to his name.

He might play second fiddle to Open champion Henrik Stenson as far as Swedish golf is concerned, but right now Noren is just as hot as his counterpart.

Nicolas Colsaerts – $9,000 – The Belgian is an outstanding player on his day, and while the 2017 campaign has been one to forget he showed plenty of class in finishing T3 at Wentworth at the weekend.

He has plenty of decent form in Sweden to call upon, with T2 and T7 his last pair of results in this tournament, and so good vibes should be coursing through Colsaerts this week.

Huge off the tee with an average drive of 306 yards, Colsaerts has even managed to find an average of 75% of greens in regulation despite being out of form; his game is perfect for this Barseback test.

Pablo Larrazabal – $8,300 – The general feeling is that the Spaniard will add to this haul of four European Tour titles sooner rather than later, and his form is good enough at present to suggest the moment is night.

A trio of excellent performances in April (T13 at Trophee Hassan, T11 at Shenzhen, and T3 at the China Open) have been backed by an excellent T24 in the BMW PGA in a world-class field, and so Larrazabal is connecting plenty of dots at present.

One of the few in the field to have a competitive tournament at Barseback to his name (T27 in 2009), Pablo has something of an advantage this week.

Thorbjorn Olesen – $7,700 – Barseback has been likened by some onlookers as Links-style in nature, and that should play into the hands of Olesen if true.

Forget his missed cut at Wentworth, the Dane simply hates playing there; he’s missed the weekend in six of his seven trips to the parkland track. That is not a reflection of his current form. Instead, focus on the T8 at Shenzhen and the victory for him and his partner Lucas Bjerregaard at the Sixes event earlier this spring. Gimmicky? Absolutely, but you still have to play well to win it.

Some 50% of the top 20 at last year’s Nordea Masters were Scandinavian, so Olesen seems a fair pick this week.

Peter Hanson – $7,000 – By all accounts Peter Hanson should be something of a cash cow this week.

He’s banked in four of his five completed starts; a run which features a trio of top-25s, and signed off his impressive BMW PGA tilt with a final round of 66 to finish T21.

We know the Swedes enjoy playing in their home tournament, and a T13 in this event in 2015 suggests Hanson get a buzz from playing in front of his own fans too.

Johan Carlsson – $6,300 – This is a gamble pick given how his BMW PGA attempt unfolded, but Carlsson could seriously outperform his salary this week.

His upward curve in form started at the China Open, where he finished T24, and continued at the coastal Rocco Forte Open, where he ended up T18 despite challenging heading into the final round.

Then there was his opening round of 66 at Wentworth on Thursday past, which ensured he led overnight. It was downhill from there – 73-81-74 – but if Carlsson is made of strong stuff mentally to bounce back from that, clearly his game is in excellent shape at present.

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Cover photo via Instagram