2006 Season

Thursday 1 June - Celtic Manor Welsh Open - 70 (+1)
Sorry it has taken so long to update the site. I have only played in a couple of Nationwide events becuase my ranking is too low to get in to the fields. I really don't enjoy being on the Nationwide too much and have decided that I need to start playing more and the place I can get some starts and rebuild my confidence is on the European Tour. So here I am in Wales! The European Tour has been great finding me some spots and I hope to play 11 events and earn my card back. I am in the Scan Masters, European Open, Scottish PGA Championship already and other invitations are pending - a big thank you to the Tournament Drirectors who have been very kind in putting me in their field. So on to Wales this week and back in Europe. I am really looking forward to playing golf knowing I have a schedule ahead of me. I'll be updating the site after play and am glad to be back. Bye for now, Per

Monday 5 June - Celtic Manor Welsh Open - 70, 65, 72, 66
It felt good to play four rounds for the first time in a while! In particular I was pleased with my second round 65. With a par of 69 the scoring is always good at the event and I knew I needed to go low just to make the cut. I hit some good irons and managed four 2s on the par 3s - that is always a treat and what a difference to a scorecard they make. My third round was up and down and 72 pushed me back down the field, but my 4th round 66 moved me back up to tied 34th and a check! So my European swing is off to a solid start and now I move onto Austria. In the meanwhile I will go back to Stockholm for a day to see Jill and my children who flew in today. A quick turnaround, laundry, repack and it is off to Vienna for the BA-CA Open at Fontana Golf Club. A full field European Tour event hasn't been played in Austria for 10 years, so I would imagine they are pleased to have Monty and Co coming back. I'll update you from the land of Sacher Tort - probably the best chocolate cake in the world! Bye for now, Per

Monday 12 June - BA-CA Open - 70, 69, 75, 71
Well, my cut streak is 2! Not my best week ever, but I made a check and moved up a little in the rankings. I actually played well the first 2 days on the tricky Fontana golf course. Once again my third round put me down the field - it was a tough weather day and my hat is off to Markus Brier, the eventual winner for putting 4 rounds together in the 60s. It feels good to be back in Europe, especially as I am playing 4 tournament rounds each week and beginning to find my game again after a long lay off. It was a fun week in Austria and an excellent golf course - it was strange to me that the tournament, which is the National Open should choose to take out the Austrian name out of the title and just go with the sponsors name. The BA-CA Open could be anywhere, where as the BA-CA Austrian Open could only be in one place - they should change that for Markus Brier's defence in 2007. So, back to Sweden for a week off before travelling to beautiful Scotland and the Gleneagles resort for the Johnny Walker Championship. I am looking forward to heading home to see Jill and my 2 girls and eating some good Swedish food! Catch up from Scotland, Per.

Friday 23 June - Johnny Walker Championship at Gleneagles – 79
Following a week off I arrived at Edinburgh airport on the Tuesday of the event, which is routine for me – I have played most of the courses on the schedule and so like to spend Mondays at home with the family. The Gleneagles resort is about an hours drive from the airport and is truly one of the great golf resorts of the world. As well as three championship courses, Kings, Queens and Centenary, there is a cool par 3 course. In addition the gym is great, there is a running course, spa and the restaurants are first class. The event this week was on the Centenary course, designed by Jack Nicklaus and host for the 2014 Ryder Cup (they like to plan a long way ahead on the European Tour!). I played a couple of practice rounds with my Swedish buddy, Henrik Nystrom ahead of my early morning tee time on Thursday. It was a tough day shooting a 6 over par 79! I didn’t feel too good throughout the day and that night received some test results from a session I had at UCLA Medical Center the previous week. The results showed my stress level to be above normal (no jokes about +6 increasing my stress please!) and this was manifesting itself through high blood pressure. As I said I wasn’t feeling too good and when I got the results I felt worse. Having spoken with the Tournament Director, David Williams, who was very understanding, I decided the best thing to do would be to travel back to Stockholm and see my doctor. The event very kindly gave me an invitation and I would never ever quit (even after 79) after round one, but ultimately my health is more important than playing another 18 holes. So, back to the airport after a short week and home to the family.

Monday 17 July - Back in Sweden trying to catch fish!
After the trauma of Scotland it was back to my home country of Sweden. Jill and the girls were already there and we decided to head North of Stockholm to stay with some friends up in the archipelago. I have never looked that word up in the dictionary before and I thought you might like to know it is defined as “an area of sea with many islands”. Stretching 80 kilometers east of our Nations capital, Stockholm , the archipelago comprises 24,000 islands. Actually some of them are just big rocks, but they are great to sail to and spend the day away from modern life. We spent a few days with Catrin Nilsmark, the 2 time Solheim Cup captain and her family and are now with some other friends at another house which is located right next to the water. The weather is fantastic and the temperature in the water is 73 degrees, so if anyone gets hot they can go for a quick dip. Although we have been having a great time away from golf for a couple of weeks I did make it top Ullna Golf Club yesterday and played with friends. I shot 7 under and took the money! If you ever come to Stockholm, go there – it is top 100 in Europe and certainly top 5 in Sweden. My game felt good and let’s hope when I play Scandinavian Masters in two weeks it feels as good. It has been great to get away from the Tour for a couple of weeks and get back to some outdoor life. I love to cook and have been grilling any fish we managed to catch (including the well known Swedish specialty, herring), and crayfish, which we bought! As well as drinking some good wine we have been water skiing and tubing on the lakes. I’ll catch up with you from Barseback, which is another great Swedish course about 40 minutes from Malmo, in the west of the country.

Tuesday 1 August - Scandinavian Masters
I am back on the European Tour after a couple of weeks off and what better place to start back than the Scandinavian Masters. This year the event is being played in Malmo, which is in the south west of Sweden. In recent years the government has built an amazing bridge so it is now possible to drive across from Malmo to Copenhagen to our neighbors in Denmark. To get here, we all packed into the car and drove across the country from Stockholm in the East. It’s a miracle the car made it here with Jill, 2 children, me, my golf equipment and enough luggage, DVDs and toys to make the 7-hour journey pass as quickly as possible. After years of traveling on Tour on my own it really is a big change to have the whole family with me. Once we get there it is great, but packing to leave – that’s another story! My game feels good and I am as comfortable on the Barseback golf course in front of home fans as anywhere in the world. I have had good results in the Scandinavian Masters before (finishing in the top 10 on several occasions), although have never won it, which would be a dream. My great friend and brother in law, Jesper Parnevik has won it twice, so I have something to aim for. We are staying in a rented house in Barseback harbor this week, as are a number of other players with their families. The Parneviks are next door, so with 6 kids, 2 nannies and us we have the potential for a great party. We have been cooking out and Mia Parnevik and Jill had an awesome dinner ready for us when we got back from the course last night. Fish is big in Sweden, mainly because the whole country is surrounded by water. On the west coast the specialties are shellfish, fresh mackerel and cod. We are a week early for the crayfish season, which starts around August 8, and continues for about six weeks. I’m sure we still manage to find them though – if you come to Sweden you must try them. So what about my golf? Well, I have been practicing and shot a few scores playing with friends. I have also been working hard on my putting. I’ve used a 2 ball for quite a while and found that 33 inches is the perfect length for me. It really is worth trying putters of different lengths. Whether you are tall or short the shaft length can really impact your stroke and if you have used a standard length putter for years, I would suggest you mix it up a little and try something different and monitor the results. I was on the Barseback course yesterday and it’s in great shape. Like the British Open course, Hoylake, the course is running fast as it is a true links course. We were having a debate over what a links really means. My conclusion was that a “real links” course must have been built on land that was originally under the sea and that over the last couple of hundred years this land became usable as the sea receded. So, St Andrews is a links, where as a golf course in the middle of Florida may call itself a “golf links” but isn’t! Let me know if you agree or have another definition. My 50 Swedish Kroner depends on it! I plan on hitting some balls today and having a solid putting session before heading home for a family dinner. I am in the pro-am on Wednesday, which I really enjoy, especially in Sweden, so that will be one of my practice rounds. I am looking forward to a good week and will catch up with you after posting some good numbers. Stay positive!

Monday 7 August
It’s Monday night in Stockholm and I am doing what most professional golfers do on a Monday night. I’m packing! Man, I must have packed and unpacked nearly a thousand times – I was just trying to work it out. 15 years on Tour times twice a week times 30 events a year. And that’s excluding vacations. That’s a lot of socks! I leave for Holland very early in the morning with my Swedish friend and fellow Tour Pro Henrik Nystrom. I’m playing in the Dutch Open at the magnificent links course at Kennemer. Last week at The Scandinavian Masters was awful with rounds of 73 and 77 to miss the cut by a mile. I played well in practice but got to the tee on Thursday and just didn’t feel good about my swing. We start again this week with a clean slate so I’ll stay positive and see what transpires. It has been an exhausting day. My daughter, Stella was 3 today and we had about 16 kids at the house causing havoc every which way! She had a great time and there will be some tired children and parents on the ride home.

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