VAN DAM TAKING CONFIDENCE FROM VOLVO CAR SCANDINAVIAN MIXED RESULT

Anne Van Dam

Anne Van Dam had a sensational weekend at the 2023 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed to finish the tournament in a tie for third place.

At the halfway stage, the Dutch star was three-under-par after opening rounds of 72 (E) and 69 (-3) but she turned up the heat on Saturday.

A blistering round of 63 (-9) which included one eagle, eight birdies and one bogey meant the five-time LET winner catapulted up the leaderboard.

Van Dam shot a round of 69 (-3) on the final day to finish the tournament on 15-under-par alongside Germany’s Yannik Paul.

The Solheim Cup winner was the leading female in the results and moved up to ninth place in the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol.

Speaking afterward, she said: “It was always going to be tough to follow up a performance like I did yesterday. I just tried to start my round with a clean slate.

“The front nine I actually played good, I had a lot of chances and the back nine I was on top of my game, so it was nice to hang on in there and then the birdie on 18 feels extra special.

“On Saturday morning, I was 14 shots behind going into the weekend, so I knew I had to play a little bit more aggressive. Today as well, even not having my best game, you have to keep going.

“You have to stay aggressive and see if you can make some chances. My putter wasn’t that good today otherwise I feel like I could have pushed a little bit harder. But overall what can I say, it was a great week in general.”

Van Dam, who won her last LET title in 2019, has had a consistent start to the 2023 season with a runner-up finish at the Jabra Ladies Open, third place at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed and two further top-25 results.

In the first two rounds of the tournament at Ullna Golf Club, Van Dam played alongside Denmark’s Nicole Broch Estrup and Scotland’s Connor Syme.

While over the weekend, she teed it up alongside two of Scotland’s best with Marc Warren on Saturday and Richie Ramsay on Sunday.

As well as gaining confidence from the result, Van Dam enjoyed getting to learn and watch the men from the DP World Tour across the week in Sweden.

She added: “It gives me a lot of confidence. It was fun to play against these guys. It’s something different to look at. They’re so good.

“I always try to learn something from everyone I play with, and this week was fun because I got to play with different people that I’ve never played with. You can see them practicing on the short game area and the range, seeing what they might different.

“It’s been fun to see how aggressive the men play, especially into some of the par-5s. I’m not quite there yet, but I’ll stick to my own game. It’s been a fantastic week and hopefully I’ll be back here next year.”

Follow all the action on @LETGolf on Instagram and Twitter and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #RaiseOurGame #ScandinavianMixed.