When it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere holiday travellers and golfers usually head south to the Mediterranean for the sun. Anyone at the recent Scandinavian Masters would question their logic.

Four days of unbroken sunshine created a Mediterranean climate in a tranquil setting. The magnificent Barseback course hosting the tournament winds through pine forest and out on to the Oresund coastline. The course was perfectly prepared for the event with lush fairways and slick greens. This, combined with the fine weather and lack of wind, provided the perfect conditions for low scoring.

The enthusiasm for golf in Sweden and the superb weather attracted record crowds of around 120,000 over the four days. The facilities at Barseback included well organised corporate hospitality areas and a comprehensive tented village including exhibitors from all over the golfing world, restaurants, clothing and equipment.

This mainly Swedish and Danish audience were there to follow their own as well as the better known players. The field included the well known names from overseas of Faldo, Montgomerie,  Clarke, Westwood etc. but the larger crowds followed the local heroes Parnevik, Hedblom, Haeggman, Hanson etc.many of whom were in contention right up to the end. However it was a relatively unknown English player Luke Donald, who forged ahead of the field and stayed there with flawless accurate golf to take the Masters title with a finishing score of  -16.

After the day’s golf the central square in nearby Malmo called Lilla Torg attracted many hundreds of people to its selection of open air restaurants and bars. The focus of the square was a large screen showing highlights from the day’s golf.

Beautiful weather, beautiful people, great golf courses…hidden gems in every sense!…. a compelling recipe to head North next summer not South!