Swedish Golf Tour (women)
| Most recent season or competition: 2024 Swedish Golf Tour (women) | |
| Sport | Golf |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Founder | Swedish Golf Federation and PGA of Sweden |
| First season | 1986 |
| Countries |  Denmark (2002–) Finland (1998–2011) Norway (2012–2020) Sweden |
| Official website | https://golf.se/for-spelaren/tavlingar/ahlsell-nordic-golf-tour/ |
The Swedish Golf Tour (SGT) for women, from 2021 synonymous with the Nordic Golf Tour (NGT) and from 2022 branded the Ahlsell Nordic Golf Tour, is a professional golf tour operated in cooperation by the golf federations in Denmark and Norway and Sweden.
The NGT is on the third level of international golf tours, below the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LET Access Series (LETAS).[1] For 2022 all six scheduled tournaments were included in the LETAS.
The SGT for women was named the Swedish Golf Tour 1986–1990, the Lancome Tour 1991–1994, the Telia Infomedia Golf Tour 1995–1997, the Telia Tour 1998–2008, the SAS Masters Tour 2008–2009, the Nordea Tour 2010–2016 and the Swedish Golf Tour 2017–2020.[2] From 2021, the Swedish Golf Tour was included in and synonymous with the Nordic Golf Tour. For 2022, the tour was, for sponsor reasons, named the Ahlsell Nordic Golf Tour.[3]
The Swedish Golf Tour for men is run by the same organization and is from 2020 named the MoreGolf Mastercard Tour.
History
At the beginning of 1979, Kärstin Ehrnlund became the first Swedish female tournament professional. The following year, Ehrnlund became the first Swedish winner on an international professional golf tour, when she won on the Ladies European Tour (LET) (at the time named the WPGA Tour) and by this showed the possibility for talented Swedish female golfers to turn playing professionals.[4]
The first professional tournament for women held in Sweden and also the first LET tournament in Sweden, was an invitational tournament named the Volvo International taking place at Albatross Golf Club in Gothenburg in 1980 and again in 1981.
At the annual meeting of the Swedish Golf Federation in March 1983, "open golf" was introduced, which meant that, from next year both amateurs and professionals were allowed to enter all domestic competitions, international amateur tournaments excluded. Non-PGA members with a licence, as well as PGA members, were allowed to receive prize money. The new and internationally unique rules, made it possible to transform the traditionally most important amateur tournaments in the country to professional tournaments, attractive to sponsors and players.[2]
The next Ladies European Tour tournament held in Sweden, took place at Mölle Golf Club in Mölle in 1984 and was named the Höganäs Ladies Open.[2]
The women's Swedish Golf Tour, designed to help Swedish golfers to reach the standard of play needed to qualify for the LET, was established in 1986, two years after the men's tour in the country. The women's tour consisted the first year of seven tournaments, two of them co-sanctioned with the Ladies' European Tour. Liselotte Neumann was the first Order-of-Merit winner, thanks to second-place finishes in both of the two co-sanctioned events.[2]
In 1988, a company, Svenska Golftourerna AB, was founded, owned equally by the PGA of Sweden and the Swedish Golf Federation, to organize the two Swedish Golf Tours for men and women. Its first chairperson was Ola Öqvist.[2]
Official Feeder Tour to LET
In 2005, the women's SGT became the first official feeder tour for the LET, with the two leading non-exempt players from the ranking gaining LET cards for the following season, and the remainder of the top ten exempted into the final stage of the LET Qualifying School.[5] In 2012, the tour was replaced as the LET's feeder tour by the newly created LET Access Series.
From 2018, the women's SGT was run by the Swedish Golf Federation.
Nordic Golf Tour
For 2020, in cooperation between the Golf Federations of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, the Ladies' Nordic Golf Tour (NGT) was introduced, with its Order-of merit ranking named Road to Creekhouse Ladies Open, including eight tournaments in three countries, six of them to be counted in the LETAS.[1] This meant that the women's SGT remained, but on the level below the NGT.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the events outside Sweden were cancelled and the remaining Swedish events were removed from the 2020 LET Access Series (LETAS) schedule. Two of the five scheduled tournaments to be held in Sweden went ahead, but with a reduced purse.[6][7]
From 2021, the Swedish Golf Tour was included in and synonymous with the Nordic Golf Tour.
Sponsorship
| Tour name | Years | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| Swedish Golf Tour | 1986–1990 | |
| Lancôme Tour | 1991–1994 | Lancôme |
| Telia Infomedia Golf Tour | 1995–1997 | Telia Company |
| Telia Tour | 1998–2008 | |
| SAS Masters Tour | 2008–2009 | Scandinavian Airlines |
| Nordea Tour | 2010–2016 | Nordea |
| Swedish Golf Tour | 2017–2020 | |
| Nordic Golf Tour | 2021 | |
| Ahlsell Nordic Golf Tour | 2022– | Ahlsell Group |
Order of Merit winners
- ^ The Order of Merit win was shared between Hansen and Rydqvist. Due to the Covid19 situation during 2020, a reduced schedule was played and Hansen only took part in two tournaments and Rydqvist only took part in one tournament. As Rydqvist was an amateur, she received no prize money.
- ^ In the 2016 SGT season, Haglund officially won SEK 84,000 and EUR 20,432, which approximately, counting with an exchange rate of 9.5, makes SEK 194,104 and total prize money won SEK 278,104.
Note: Until 1996, the SGT Order of Merit standings was decided by money won and since 1997 different point systems, not comparable between years, have been in force.
Sources:[2][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Swedish Golf Tour: Nordic Golf Tour – ett lyft för professionell golf" [Swedish Golf Tour: Nordic Golf Tour – a raise for professional golf]. Swedish Golf Federation. 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Golf – Den stora sporten [Golf – The Great Sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation 100 Years. 2004. pp. 42–43, 242, 278–279, 285.
- ^ "Välkommen till Ahlsell Nordic Golf Tour" [Welcome to Ahlsell Nordic Golf Tour]. Swedish Golf Federation. January 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ Golf – Den Gröna Sporten [Golf – the Green Sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation 75 Years. p. 53.
- ^ "Telia Tour becomes an Official Feeder Tour to LET". Ladies European Tour. 19 May 2005. Archived from the original on 25 October 2006.
- ^ "Swedish Golf Tour, Spelschema 2020" [Swedish Golf Tour, Schedule 2020] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. 7 February 2020.
- ^ "Svenska proffstourerna drar igång" [Swedish pro tours restart]. Svensk Golf. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ^ "Tillbaka till framtiden, Telia Infomedia Ranking 1997" [Back to the future, Telia Infomedia Ranking 1997]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 11. November 1997. pp. 100–101, 108.
- ^ "Gott Nytt År, Sophie vann men Nina tog priset, Telia Tour Ranking" [Happy new Year, Sophie won but Nina took the price, Telia Tour Ranking]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 11. November 1998. pp. 94–97, 206, 207.
- ^ "Äntligen medvind, Telia Tour" [Finally wind with you, Telia Tour]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 11. November 1999. pp. 104–105, 119–120.
- ^ "Vad hände sen? Så gick det för tourvinnarna" [What happened then? The way it went for the tour winners]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 1. January 2010. pp. 66–70.
- ^ "Tourvinnarna drömmer om Europa" [The tour winners dreams about Europe]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). 2 October 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Fihn och Davidsson vann tourfinalen" [Fihn and Davidsson won the Tour final]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). 2 October 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Ramsay och Carlsson finalsegrare" [Ramsay and Carlsson winners of the final]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). 30 September 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Swedish Golf Tour, Schedule, Orders of Merit 2013-2019" (in Swedish). Svenska Golfförbundet, Swedish Golf Federation. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "Spelarmanual Swedish Golf Tour 2020" [Players Manual Swedish Golf Tour 2020] (PDF) (in Swedish). Svenska Golfförbundet, Swedish Golf Federation. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
External links
- Official website - in Swedish