The 2021 LET Access Series season continues as it moves on to Sweden for a four-week long stretch of five tournaments in a row.
A change in format kicks off the Swedish leg which starts with the Big Green Egg Swedish Matchplay Championship at the Johannesberg Golf Club.
The 58-player field will compete in the match play format for a total purse of €40,000 and the first two days will be an 18-hole qualification with matches over six holes where a won hole gives one point, a shared hole gives two points, and a lost hole gets three points.
All qualification matches will be played in groups of four players and after six holes, each player switches opponent within the group.
After 36 holes, there is a leaderboard based on how many points a player has earned. The top-16 players will qualify to day three with no ties and a playoff for the 16th spot will be held if needed.
On the third and fourth days of competition, the last 16, quarterfinals, semi-finals and final will take place.
Last week’s Santander Golf Tour Zaragoza champion Rachael Goodall got a taste of match play in her seven-hole playoff to secure her third LETAS title.
“I’m very relieved after winning last week, the seven-hole playoff was tough mentally so to come through and win was a great feeling. I am very much looking forward to Sweden, I love it here and it’s nice to be in the same country for a while,” she said.
“I love match play and I had quite a good record playing it as an amateur, but it has been a while since I last played it. It is a different mentality, I think on the whole you can be more aggressive than stroke play and the course suits that this week, there are some good opportunities for birdies.”
The player ranked second in the LETAS Order of Merit is Scotland’s Gabrielle Macdonald who has had a solid season so far with three top-10 finishes including T4 in Spain last week.
“I’m feeling good after two good weeks in Italy and Spain, my putting has been good, so I’m really pleased with that. Short game is key every week so I’m hoping to keep up my recent form,” she explained.
“It’s great to be in Sweden, I always enjoy coming here and it should be fun this week playing match play. I don’t really change my approach and it’s still just playing golf with either format but I’m looking forward to it as I’ve had success in the past at home playing match play events.”
Germany’s Verena Gimmy added her second top-5 of the season in Zaragoza last week and is looking forward to the stretch in Sweden.
She said: “I felt very confident in my game last week and the course suited my game very well. The match play this something different and since it’s in the middle of the season, it’s the perfect timing to spice it up and do something different.”
“I feel like I am playing more aggressively in match play because you’re necessarily not thinking about the score after 18 but giving yourself chances and maybe trying shots that you wouldn’t do in stroke play.“
Keep up with the scores – here.
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