ICELAND ON TOP

With the forecast promising rain later in the day, the FPO had a slow start at the DGPT Europe Elite Series Swedish Open 2024 presented by Kastaplast.

The course at Ymergårdens Discgolfcenter in Borås, Sweden, proved a challenge with its tight wooded fairways and several OBs that come in to play, which María Eldey Kristínardóttir, described as birdieable, so long as you are able to hit your line and angle.

And that was exactly what that the only Islandic FPO player at the Swedish Open was able to do. Starting off with two bogeys on the first two holes, Kristínardóttir picked herself up and got 7 birdies to finish -5 for the round, carding the most birdies of the division in R1.

It should come as no surprise that María Eldey Kristínardóttir has game, as she is the highest rated woman in Iceland – and by a substantial margin at that!

However, it’s safe to say, that she didn’t start this event as favourite, but with her closest competitors playing some way off the level she has started the Swedish Open with, Kristínadóttir now finds herself leading a Disc Golf Pro Tour event with 4 strokes!

That means lead card tomorrow, and with lead card comes cameras, expectations, and nerves as well as prime competition. So, she will probably be focused on looking ahead instead of seeing who’s chasing her, because she will be joined by Finnish superstars Eveliina Salonen and Silva Saarinen in T2, both shooting -1 for the round.

Expectations are always high for Eveliina Salonen as she has proved herself to be one of the best players in the world, and although she managed to keep a pretty clean round, the Team Innova Discs star will surely be looking to get more than 3 birdies tomorrow.

And just as with Eveliina, the expectations were naturally high for Silva Saarinen, who has been on fire in the recent events. The MVP Disc Sports sponsored Finn made 6 birdies in the round but also took 2 double bogeys, one of which was forced by an errant drive on hole 18, where she unfortunately hit the lamp of a light post on the left side of the fairway on the down sloping final hole. And although the drive did land in bounds, her second shot found the OB and so she gave up valuable strokes in her effort to be crowned back-to-back Swedish Open champion, which would also take her DGPT Europe winning streak to an incredible 5 in a row!

Last up on lead card tomorrow is Team Discmania's Ella Hansen, who is no stranger to the top of the leaderboard. Having already taken an Elite Series win this year at the OTB Open she is surely a player in contention for the victory.

With an amazing throw-in eagle on hole 4 as well as two birdies, Ella Hansen was 4 under par after 7 holes, but with a -3 on F9 and +3 on B9, she sits 5 back of Kristínardóttir after the first round of the DGPT Europe Elite Series Swedish Open.

SURPRISING START FOR THE MPO!

Well, if we learned anything from the FPO’s first round, it was to expect the unexpected. And that came true once more as the MPO field took on Ymergårdens Discgolfcenter at the DGPT Europe Elite Series Swedish Open presented by Kastaplast.

A LOT of world class players had announced their arrival this weekend, with several of the absolute best disc golfers in the world being among them.

One of them is Paul McBeth, who’s winning accolades are too long to list here. Apart from the obvious 6 Professional Disc Golf Association World Championship titles, he came to Borås, Sweden, looking to defend his title from last year, where he came to shine a light on the European disc golf scene, while playing up to his reputation along the way.

And yet again, McBeth shows that he is as comfortable as anyone on the tight wooded and undulating fairways of this wonderful course. Playing a bogey free -9, he is currently in first place.

However, he is not alone! Tied for first along with the legend, sits the Czech Jakub Knápek and Estonian Roland Kõur, who both have played a fantastic first round. Knápek managed 11 birdies, while Kõur took 10, in a first round where the three leaders birdied all but two holes between them, proving María Eldey Kristínardóttir’s take on the course after her hot round earlier in the day was on point!

Joining the joint leaders on lead card tomorrow is James Proctor, who took as many birdies as Kõur, but also one more bogey, and is therefore one stroke off the lead in -8.

Now, while McBeth’s place at the top of the field doesn’t come as a surprise, the absence of several other stars is quite remarkable. The spectators who came out for the Friday round will have been forced to scroll down on PDGA Live to see where the rest of the stars were at.

In T10th sits World Champion James Conrad, who finished the first round of his European stint 6 under par.

-4 equaled T22nd place for Väinö Mäkälä, European Champion Dennis Augustsson and last week’s champion at Ale, Daniel Davidsson.

Calvin Heimburg, who got stuck in Zurich, Switzerland, on his way over, and therefore never got the chance to practice the course, is T35th with -3, one stroke better than Eagle McMahon, who sits in T47th – just below the cash line.

There he is with the likes of Joona Heinänen, Linus Carlsson and over-hand specialist Jake Wolff.

And even further down the list we find both Jakub Semerád and Niklas Anttila with -1, and in +1 is 2x World Champion Ricky Wysocki alongside Jesse Nieminen, who won the DGPT Europe Elite Series Copenhagen Open.

So, while some of the stars have met their expectations, others certainly have to go all out attack to climb the leaderboard.

Post produced action on MDG Media: https://www.youtube.com/@MDGMedia/videos

Watch R2 Live tomorrow at Disc Golf Pro Tour DGN: https://www.discgolfnetwork.com/show/swedish-open

• FPO: 09:40 CET
• MPO: 15:40 CET