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 Professional golf tours are the means by which otherwise unconnected Professional golfer, professional golf tournaments are organised into a regular schedule. There are separate tours for men and women; most are based in a specific geographical reg ...

operated in cooperation by the golf federations in

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and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

and Sweden. The NGT is on the third level of international golf tours, below the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the

LET Access Series The LET Access Series (LETAS) is a professional golf tour for women and the official development tour to the Ladies European Tour. Launched in 2010, the LET Access Series provides players with an opportunity to compete and progress on to the LET ...

(LETAS). For 2022 all six scheduled tournaments are 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. 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. 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 Kärstin Helena Ehrnlund Strand (born 10 February 1959 in Karlstad) is a Swedish professional golfer. She was the first Swedish woman to join a professional golf tour and the first Swede to record a victory on an international tour. Early years ...

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. 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 The Volvo International, also known as the Pilot (pen company), Pilot Pen International, was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts from 1973 to 1984 and on Hardcourt, outdoor hard courts from 1985 to 1998. It was first held at th ...

taking place at

Albatross Golf Club Albatross Golf Club is a golf club located 9 km north of central Gothenburg, Sweden. It has hosted the Volvo International Tournament on the Ladies European Tour. History The club was admitted to the Swedish Golf Federation in 1974 and the first ...

in Gothenburg in 1980. 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. The first Ladies European Tour tournament held in Sweden, took place at

Mölle Golf Club Mölle Golf Club is a golf club located on the Kullen peninsula in Höganäs Municipality, southwestern Sweden. It has hosted the Höganäs Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour. Location The course, partially overlooking the Öresund strait, ...

Mölle Mölle is a locality situated in Höganäs Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 715 inhabitants in 2010. It is best known for its scenic harbour and its location adjacent to the Kullaberg Nature Reserve. Its harbour, situated on the Katte ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and was named the Höganäs Ladies Open. 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 Liselotte Maria "Lotta" Neumann (born 20 May 1966) is a Swedish professional golfer. When she recorded her first LPGA Tour win, by claiming the 1988 U.S. Women's Open title, Neumann also became the first Swedish golfer, male or female, to win a ...

was the first Order-of-Merit winner, thanks to second-place finishes in both of the two co-sanctioned events. 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.

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 In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

. In 2012, the tour was replaced as the LET's feeder tour by the newly created

. 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. This meant that the women's SGT remained, but on the level below the NGT. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

the events outside Sweden were cancelled and the remaining Swedish events were removed from the

2020 LET Access Series The 2020 LET Access Series was a series of professional women's golf tournaments held from August through October 2020 across Europe. The LET Access Series is the second-tier women's professional golf tour in Europe and is the official developmen ...

(LETAS) schedule. Two of the five scheduled tournaments to be held in Sweden went ahead, but with a reduced purse. From 2021, the Swedish Golf Tour was included in and synonymous with the Nordic Golf Tour.

Sponsorship

Order of Merit (SGT only) winners

''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:

References

External links

* - in Swedish {{Women's Professional Golf Tours Professional golf tours Golf in Sweden Women's golf 1986 establishments in Sweden