Emil Rosberg’s dominant performance ensured the Sweden Championship stayed in his home country. (Photo courtesy LDET)
What was anticipated to be one of the best events of the Long Drivers European Tour season didn’t disappoint. The Sweden Championships saw the tour’s strongest field ever in Europe, according to tour CEO Xavier Eusebio, and the hometown crowd has something else to cheer about too.
Emil Rosberg of Gothenburg, Sweden, joined a number of familiar names in Saturday’s match plays at Täby Golf Klub, ultimately securing the title for his home country.
Robin “The Hungarian Hulk” Horvath looked to add another podium finish to his strong 2018 season against C.J. Hellstrom, but his 337.5/349.3 showing fell short of Hellstom’s 351.6/359.9 in the first match. Then, 2018 Belgium Champion Martin Borgmeier faced off against the U.K’s Bry Roberts, who started slow with a 318.9 before finishing 352.2/OB. The Beard Borgmeier’s 355.1/OB/339.3 cemented his meeting with Hellstrom in the semis.
Match three came courtesy of Finland’s own Aleksi Kivini and Saku Korhonen. Korhonen (OB/270/348.8) qualified for the semifinals easily after Kivini failed to land one in the grid. and in the matchplay finale Rosberg met defending tour champion Matt Nicolle. Rosenberg dropped a pair of 357-yard bombs (357.9/357.1), besting Nicolle’s 335.2/356.6 and punching his ticket to the semifinals to face Korhonen.
Borgmeier began the semis in a bit of a shaky spot, landing OB in his first two sets against Hellstrom, but his 358.5/349.8 finish proved too much for Hellstrom’s 348.8/OB/357/325.5 to overcome. Rosberg and Korhonen dropped a pair of 338.9- yard bombs in their first semifinal set. But Rosberg raised the bar with 344.7 blast which was more than enough to best Korhonen’s OB finish.
And thus the stage was set for another superb LDET event: The home country hero Rosberg versus Belgium Champion, “The Beard” Borgmeier.
Rosberg came out swinging with a 353.9-yard bomb in the first set, just safe from Borgmeier’s 350.6 effort. Rosberg backed his first set up with a 350.5-yard blast of his own, and after 344.2-yard finish from Borgmeier, ensured the Sweden Championship stays in its home country.
Hellstrom secured the final podium position against Korhonen 296.7/343.8/353 to 357.8/323/341 for his first top-three finish of the season. And Borgmeier has something else to celebrate on top his second-place finish — with the first third of the 2018 season in the books, The Beard’s now the no.1 ranked LDET player.
With still so much more to come, including one of the most-anticipated events of the year, the Russia Championships at PeterHof Golf Club, next on the the schedule, this season continues to exceed all expectations. We’ll be previewing the tour’s debut in Russia and updating the LDET player rankings prior to the June 2nd-3rd event.