It is a true Scandinavian mystery. How is it, given the number of high class performers that Sweden in particular, but the region as whole has produced over the past 30 years, that it has still not produced a male winner of a major championship?
Outside the British Isles and Spain no part of Europe has contributed more to the transformation in Ryder Cup fortunes in that period with the likes of Jesper Parnevik, Thomas Bjorn and, most recently Henrik Stenson playing stalwart roles.
Yet, unlike their women, Annika Sorenstam, Lieslotte Neumann, Helen Alfredsson and Suzann Pettersen and Anna Nordqvist, who have accrued 15 major titles among them, they have never been able to complete the job in their biggest events
Parnevik could hardly have come closer in 1994, making a fateful decision not to check the scoreboard as he played his approach at the 18th hole at Turnberry and consequently thinking he had to keep going for birdies when a par would have made him all but certain to win the title but a bogey let Nick Price in. The Swede was to finish runner-up here at Troon, too, behind Justin Leonard three years later.
Six years later Denmark’s Bjorn looked poised to take the title when he led the Open by two shots with three to play but took three shots to get out of a greenside bunker to let Ben Curtis in.
Others have had their chances, including Stenson who has claiming top three finishes in majors, at this event in 2013, when he ultimately finished runner-up to Phil Mickelson and in the USPGA’s of that year and in 2014, when he also finished fourth in the US Open but, as he acknowledged after edging to within a stroke of the American at the halfway stage of this event, time is running out and he has not challenged sufficiently over the past two seasons.
“I'm 40. I'm not going to play these tournaments forever and ever,” he said.
“I don't have another 50 goes at them. It might be a dozen or 15 in total. So I better start putting myself in position and giving myself chances if I want to make it happen. After six tournaments not being there, it's certainly time to get going.”
While Stenson acknowledged that Mickelson is probably feeling less pressure, not least because he claimed that Open win at the Swede’s expense three years ago, he is fairly philosophical.
“There's been a couple of chances and I'm sure if things would have gone my way I could have had one or two of these,” he observed.
“The (US)PGA that Dufner won I ended up in a divot on the 15th hole in the final round and took a five instead of potentially a three on that short par-four there and things could have looked differently as well, but you get some good breaks and some bad breaks.
“If I keep putting myself in position and knocking on the door, I hope I get a couple of good breaks at the right times.”
Stenson rightly pointed out, too, that for all that they have yet to make the breakthrough, it is hardly a shock to see Scandinavians in contention at this stage of a major championship.
“Sweden and Denmark in particular have created a lot of or produced a lot of good players on tour for as long as I can remember, so, yeah, I guess it's only natural to see a few Scandinavians up there (and) it's good to see some of the others playing well as well,” he observed.
For others read one in terms of title contention this time around and the player in question is also highly experienced, albeit rather less well known than Stenson.
In a 20 year professional career he has only competed in only 19 majors in all, missing the cut more often than he has made it and claiming just one top 10 finish before this season when he tied for sixth at the USPGA, to the extent that his favourite Open memory prior to this year was watching a rival on television.
“So far I haven't done that great at The Open,” he said.
“I've had some good times. I remember sitting in the Old Course Hotel watching Tom Watson play his last hole at St. Andrews a few years ago. That was pretty special, but from a selfish standpoint, these last two days have been really good.”
However he contended at this year’s US Masters, finishing in a tie for seventh, is level with Keegan Bradley in third place at the halfway stage this time around and reckons there is good reason for three men in their forties setting the pace.
“Media always likes to tell that all the young guys are winning and you need to hit it 340 through the air to win and all that. I don't get caught up in that. I'm 41, and I hit it 280 and I try to make the most out of it,” Kjeldsen pointed out.
Nor is he too old to learn and his experience at Augusta reinforced his understanding of the need to know when and how to switch off.
“I don't make it more important than anything else really,” he said.
“I know the importance of the tournament, but I also know that for me to perform well, I need to get into my little world and get lost in that. And if I control what I can control, then I'm doing okay. And that's what I learned from Augusta.
“It's one of those things where I got back to the house every day, I never watched it on TV. We had a great time at the house just with the family and didn't get caught up in it. I think for me that's very important, just to go and play my golf and enjoy that.”
The relaxed demeanour of both men suggests a new Norse hero could claim a place in the region’s mythology this weekend.
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