Pettersson chases up Cup place
The odds are good for a home victory in this week’s Scandinavian Masters with an amazing 48 Swedish players among the 159-strong field at Barseback.
And such a result could guarantee at least three Swedes will represent Europe in September’s Ryder Cup at the K Club near Dublin.
Henrik Stenson, beaten in a play-off for the title in Stockholm 12 months ago, has already sealed his place in Ian Woosnam’s 12-man team, while Robert Karlsson is in pole position to do likewise after his victory in the Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship on Sunday.
Johan Edfors is 12th in the standings after three European Tour victories this season while American-based Carl Pettersson has a chance to qualify from world ranking points.
In fact Pettersson would have topped that list if all his points were allowed to count, but the 28-year-old was not a member of the European Tour when he had a victory and second place on the US Tour last season.
“I tried to rejoin and they wouldn’t let me rejoin last September,” explained Pettersson, who won the prestigious Memorial tournament earlier this year.
“I was a little bitter but the rules are there and I didn’t know that you could only rejoin between seasons. That was my fault in the end and I will just need to play better and try to qualify.
“That is the main reason I came back to Europe to play these four weeks. I need a good week this week. I had a good week at the Open (he finished eighth at Hoylake), not so good last week but hopefully I can play well here and help my cause.
“It is important but it’s not life and death. If I make the team that would be great and if I don’t I would be disappointed. I would love to be on the team and look forward to the challenge of getting on there.”
Surprisingly Edfors’ three wins – the TCL Classic, British Masters and Scottish Open – have not been enough to get into the automatic qualifying places, while Padraig Harrington lies ninth despite not winning a tournament since qualifying began last September.
“It looks like two Swedes in the Ryder Cup team possibly three,” Edfors said. “Stenson is already there, Robert is really looking good after his second win and I would definitely like to be number three.”
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