Sweden’s Emma Nilsson will have the benefit of home advantage when the Creekhouse Ladies Open, a new tournament on the Ladies European Tour (LET), takes place on September 3-6 at Kristianstads GK in Åhus.
Although Emma represents Sölvesborgs GK, Kristianstads GK is the closest facility to her home and she is fortunate that the Åhus Ostra Course, which will host the LET tournament, opened for play last Thursday.
“It’s been closed due to the weather as it’s been too cold, but now I am able to play on the tournament course, which has been great. We don’t have the lockdown in Sweden, which many other countries have and we can gather in groups of up to 50 people, but we are trying to avoid people as much as possible and be sensible so as not to contract coronavirus.
“I still live at home with my parents and sister, who is also a professional golfer playing on the LET Access Series this year, so luckily we can always practise together.
“My sister, Sarah, lost her LET card this year so I was by myself in Australia and South Africa and I missed her a lot, but I have my tour mates Lina Boqvist and Johanna Gustavsson around to cheer me up and keep me company.”
Emma, the winner of the 2018 LET Access Series Order of Merit with four titles on the LET’s developmental tour, missed the first two cuts of the year in Australia but earned a career-best finish of joint second in the Investec South African Women’s Open at Westlake Golf Club in Cape Town, lifting her to equal sixth position on the Race To Costa Del Sol Ranking.
“That was my best ever finish on the LET and a lot of fun,” said the 26-year-old, who turned professional in 2014.
“I was playing okay in Australia, but my short game wasn’t good enough, so I didn’t save the pars and make the birdies. I made some stupid mistakes, like an eight on a par five, so there were a lot of shots wasted. I knew my game was close and then in South Africa, the greens suited me. There wasn’t as much grain.
“It was so much fun and since I did well, I obviously want to compete more, but we all know that safety comes first. We need the coronavirus to go away and like everyone, I hope it goes away quickly.”
