The Volvo Open was an invitational

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament played in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in 1970 and 1971. It was the first major international golf tournament played in Sweden. The 1970 event was played on two courses; the first 36 holes at the par 71 course at Delsjö Golf Club near

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

on Wednesday and Thursday and the final 36 holes at the par 72 course at Drottningholm Golf Club near

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

on Saturday and Sunday. The participation of

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

, visiting Sweden for the second year in a row after an exhibition there in 1969, were the big attraction and he finished second, one stroke behind winner

Jean Garaïalde Jean Garaïalde (born 2 October 1934) is a French professional golfer. Garaïalde was born in Ciboure, Pyrénées-Atlantiques. He turned professional in 1952. In 1969, he became the first French golfer since Firmin Cavalo in 1948 to claim his ow ...

. Other world well-known players taking part were

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

and

Lanny Wadkins Jerry Lanston "Lanny" Wadkins Jr. (born December 5, 1949) is an American professional golfer. He ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for 86 weeks from the ranking's debut in 1986 to 1988. Early years Born in Richmond, Virg ...

. The 1971 event was also played on two courses, the first 36 holes at the par 71 links course at Falsterbo Golf Club in the very south of Sweden and the final 36 holes at the par 72 course at Lysegården Golf Club, north of Gothenburg. The tournament took place at the same time as the

Dunlop Masters The Betfred British Masters is a professional golf tournament. It was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was held every year up to 2008, except for 1984. Dunlop's sponsorship ended in 1982, and the name sponsor changed frequently therea ...

which meant that few of the leading British golfers played. The tournament was won by 50-year-old

Kel Nagle Kelvin David George Nagle AM (21 December 1920 – 29 January 2015) was an Australian professional golfer best known for winning The Open Championship in 1960. He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975. Biography Nagle was bor ...

. Other well-known participants were

Doug Sanders George Douglas Sanders (July 24, 1933 – April 12, 2020) was an American professional golfer who won 20 events on the PGA Tour and had four runner-up finishes at major championships. Early years He was born into a poor family in Cedartown, G ...

and

Hubert Green Hubert Myatt Green (December 28, 1946 – June 19, 2018) was an American professional golfer who won 29 professional golf tournaments, including two major championships: the 1977 U.S. Open and the 1985 PGA Championship. He was inducted into the ...

. Two years later, in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

, the first

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

tournament in Sweden, the

Scandinavian Enterprise Open The Scandinavian Enterprise Open was a golf tournament on the European Tour that was played in Sweden until 1990, when it had a prize fund of £400,000, which was mid-range for the tour at that time. In 1991, the tournament was merged with fell ...

took place for the first time.

Winners

References

{{reflist Golf tournaments in Sweden Recurring sporting events established in 1970 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1971 1970 establishments in Sweden 1971 disestablishments in Sweden