Nordea Masters Preview: Betting Tips & How To Watch

The European Tour returns to Sweden this week for the Nordea Masters, but who should you back?

The Nordea Masters heads to an all-new location this year at Hills Golf Club as it returns to Gothenburg for the first time in 16 years. 

Last year, Renato Paratore made history as the youngest ever player to win the Nordea Masters, and will be hoping he can repeat his feat and become the first player to successfully defend the title. 

Meanwhile, Thorbjorn Olesen headlines the field and will be bidding to get one step closer to automatically qualifying for the European Ryder Cup team. And he almost had to do it without playing with his own clubs this week after an airline lost both his regular and back-up set of golf clubs. They turned up on Wednesday, the day before the tournament started. 

But who should you be backing this week? 

How To Watch the Nordea Masters

Thursday & Friday
Sky Sports Golf (10:00), Sky Sports Main Event (10:00), Sky Sports Main Event (14:00), Sky Sports Golf (14:00)

Saturday & Sunday
Sky Sports Golf (12:00)

Betting Tips: Nordea Masters

Thorbjorn Olesen – 9/1
Olesen is on the cusp of making the European Ryder Cup team, but with some tough competition for spots a good week here will make his case all the more compelling. He’s had four top 10s in his last eight starts, which includes a victory at the Italian Open – and was 4th in this tournament last year. He ranks 15th for birdie average, 23rd for putts per round and 31st for scoring average on the European Tour.

Alexander Bjork – 20/1
Bjork has performed well on the European Tour this year, but his recent results on the big stages of The Open, WGC Bridgestone and PGA Championship left him with two MC and a T48. However, given before that he’d gone T8-T14-T19 in the three preceding regular Tour events and claimed the Volvo China Open earlier this year, we still reckon he’s a good bet this week. Ranks 1st for SG: Approach the green, 13th for SG: Tee to green, 23rd in scoring average and 20th for putts per round.

Soren Kjeldsen – 25/1
Kjeldsen has made seven cuts in a row, with a best of T7 at the BMW International Open and a T22 in his last start at the Porsche European Open. He finished runner-up here in 2015, and in his last eight rounds has an average score of 69.6, so we’re expecting him to be a contender.

Joakim Lagergren – 28/1
After his victory at the Rocco Forte Sicilian Open Lagergren missed three consecutive cuts but went T12- T23 at the Irish and Scottish Open. He hasn’t teed up since then, but Swedish golfers have a good history at this event, having won four of the last 10.

Matthew Southgate – 33/1
Hasn’t teed up since a T67 at The Open, but finished T5 at the HNA Open de France and T23 at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open two weeks later. He’s had two top 10s this year and ranks 6th for GIR.

Defending Champion Renato Paratore, David Drysdale, Hideto Tanihara and Matthias Schwab may also be ones to watch given they all finished inside the top 10 two weeks ago at the Porsche European Open.

Paratore did finish 2nd at the end of July, but given that noone has succesfully defended the Nordea Masters and he’s missed six of last eight cuts, it’s definitely a riskier bet.