Stenson and Sorenstam looking to the future on home soil

Tournament hosts Henrik Stenson and Annika Sorenstam are hoping to inspire the next generation of golfing superstars as the European Tour breaks new ground at the 2021 Scandinavian Mixed.

For the first time, a field of 78 men and 78 women are going head to head on the same course competing for one prize fund and one trophy at Vallda Golf and Country Club.

All the players share the same practice facilities and men and women have been drawn together for the tournament days, as well as playing practice rounds together.

Sorenstam and Stenson have both enjoyed incredible careers at the very top of the game, with Sorenstam claiming ten Major Championships, while Stenson has won the Open Championship and twice come out on top in the Race to Dubai.

And the superstar Swedish duo are now hoping the ground-breaking mixed event in their homeland can inspire boys and girls alike to follow in their footsteps.

"We get to inspire the next generation of golfers in our country, which is something that both Annika and I are very passionate about through our foundations and other initiatives," said Stenson.

"It’s a brand new concept, playing together with the girls, and to be doing that in our home country which is a leader in equality and done a lot of good things on that end, it’s an exciting week and to be part of that new format, I think it’s great to have that in Sweden. 

"To be able to do that together with Annika is really something special.

"She's the greatest female player of all-time, certainly in my book and I think in pretty much everyone else's too. It's a great honour to do this event together with her and to do it in Sweden as well, I think it's a very fitting place to do it.

"We're going to have this event seen and heard about around the world. It's a totally new concept and I'm pretty excited that we can do it in our sport."

We get to inspire the next generation of golfers in our country, which is something that both Annika and I are very passionate about

Sorenstam added: "I'm super excited to be here, this is fantastic. Coming back to Sweden, especially playing, it's been 13 years since I hit a competitive shot in my home country so I'm really looking forward to a fun week.

"It's an honour to host this event with Henrik and come back to Sweden and host this unique, historic event. 

"It's been fun to see and speak to some of the players, many of them are excited, you walk down the range and you see the mixture of players and the interaction has been really fun.

"Both of us really care about golf in Sweden, without that we wouldn't really be here, and also the next generation."

On the course, the duo have very different goals this week, with Sorenstam having retired in 2008 and only recently started occasionally playing competitively again.

"I'm just happy to be here and be playing, I've started to pick up the game since last October so I have a lot of work to do in my game," she said. 

"I'm in a different chapter in my life so the results are not my priority, I'm just focusing on having a good time and helping this tournament to create some more awareness and exposure. I would love to make the weekend and maybe I can give out the cheque to Henrik - from a dream scenario that would be fun."

Stenson, meanwhile, is looking to put some indifferent form by his high standards behind him and kickstart his mission to make a sixth Ryder Cup appearance.

I would love to make the weekend and maybe I can give out the cheque to Henrik - from a dream scenario that would be fun

"It's about time for me to pick up some pace," he said. "It's been a rough season, a bad start to the year really and it's getting to crunch time and I certainly need to perform some if I want to have any chance of making that team.

"It's certainly time to start showing some form and hopefully this week we can take a step in that direction."

Stenson and Sorenstam are both based in Florida and revealed that their sons are having golf lessons together, setting up the prospect of a future Ryder Cup partnership.

"Kalle and my son Will, they practise here and there in Lake Nona, they take lessons together every Thursday in a junior team so it’s kinda fun," said Sorenstam.

Stenson added: "I can see a big match coming up with our boys as well."

The pair will tee off with fellow Scandinavian great Thomas Bjørn on days one and two, with the trio boasting 44 wins between them across the LET and European Tour.

And the 2018 Ryder Cup Captain is looking forward to playing with golfing "royalty".

"Swedish golf royalty doesn’t come much higher than those two," said the Dane.

"Annika and I are a very similar age and growing up and watching her career up close through the years, dominating women’s golf, was remarkable and she’s women’s golf’s Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods or however you want to put it. 

"Obviously people step away from the game playing-wise like Annika has and she is still involved in the game in many ways, and people tend to forget how good they were, but I followed Annika’s career very closely. And it’s pretty special at our age to go out and play competitive golf together and I’m looking forward to it. 

"The other one, I’ve known Henrik for so long and we are just very close friends, and he’s still got hopes and aspirations of delivering great things and very capable of doing that so that’s a different case. I love watching him play, he’s arguably one of the best golfers in the world and we saw that over a few years when he delivered some unbelievable results.

"So to watch him closely is something that is pretty cool, but it will be nice - my kids live here in Gothenburg - and to be out there the three of us together, a bit of the old guard in golf but we feel like we still have something to offer. It’s going to be fun for all three of us."