Peter Hanson will make his final appearance on the DP World Tour in his home country of Sweden at this week’s Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed before retiring from competitive golf.
Since making his first appearances on Tour in 2001, Hanson has won six titles, played in two European Ryder Cup-winning teams, and formed part of a successful generation of Swedish golfers.
As Hanson prepares to step away from competitive golf, we look back on his impressive career which has spanned almost 25 years.
From amateur to professional
Hanson started to play golf at the age of ten, after being brought along to his hometown club of Bokskogen by his neighbours.
He went on to have a successful amateur career, winning three times on the professional Swedish Golf Tour in 1997 and 1998. The Swede also finished fourth at the 1997 European Amateur Team Championship at Portmarnock Golf Club in Ireland as part of his country’s national side.
In 1998, he won the Brabazon Trophy at Formby Golf Club before his final event as an amateur came later that year at the Eisenhower Trophy in Chile, where he played alongside this week’s host Henrik Stenson in a four-man Sweden team.
Maiden Tour title followed by success on home soil
In April 2005, Hanson entered the winner’s circle for the first time on the DP World Tour with a wire-to-wire victory in the Jazztel Open de España at San Roque Club. The Swede, ranked 228th in the world at the time, overcame countryman Peter Gustafsson in a play-off.
A second Tour title nearly arrived at the start of 2007 as he finished in a share of second place behind winner Paul Casey in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. Five further top tens followed during the remainder of the campaign as he broke into the top 20 on the season-long rankings for the first time.
The highlight of 2008 came when he won his second Tour title at the SAS Masters on home soil. Victory saw Hanson become the first Swede to win the event for a decade since Jesper Parnevik, with a closing 71 in cold, windy and wet conditions in Stockholm proving enough for a one-shot win.
Alongside his title that year, he also had five other top-ten finishes on the Tour and finished in 16th place on the season-long rankings - his best finish so far.
Taking the next step in his career
After missing on qualifying for the 2008 European Ryder Cup team, Hanson was intent on ensuring he didn’t suffer a repeat when Celtic Manor hosted the event in 2010.
A run of four top tens in his final six events of the 2009 season provided the springboard for what proved to be a successful 2010 campaign.
Victory at the Open Cala Millor Mallorca – after overcoming Alejandro Cañizares in a play-off – helped him return to the world’s top 50 in May 2010.
With time running out to move into the automatic qualification places in Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup team, Hanson sealed a second Tour title of the season – and the fourth of his career – in a three-man play-off at the Czech Open, the penultimate event of the year-long qualifying period to all but confirm his spot in the side.
Celtic Manor
Inclement weather on the first day of the 2010 Ryder Cup led to a change in the tournament’s format for the rest of the event, with two sessions of six matches each taking place instead of the traditional three sessions of four matches.
This in turn saw all 24 players on both sides play across the second and third sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
After defeat alongside Miguel Ángel Jiménez in Saturday’s foursomes, Hanson reunited with the experienced Spaniard to beat Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton in the fourballs.
The following day, he lost to Phil Mickelson in his singles match but that did not stop the Swede being part of a winning side as Europe secured a 14.5-13.5 victory in a dramatic climax at Celtic Manor.
Memorable 2012 season
The experience of playing in a first Ryder Cup among many of the world’s best golfers provided Hanson with increased confidence and a desire to be involved again at the 2012 staging.
After finishing in a share of second place at the Qatar Masters in February 2012, Hanson went on to promptly challenge for the title at both the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and WGC-Cadillac Championship.
Hanson arrived at The Masters full of confidence as a result and held a one-shot lead going into the final round before he finished in a share of third place at Augusta National.
Unlike in 2010, when Hanson had just earned a place in the European Ryder Cup team at the last minute, Hanson’s spot was secured with about six months still to go.
Two weeks before Medinah, Hanson won his fifth DP World Tour at the KLM Open in the Netherlands. He was in form and now into the top 20 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
Being a part of the Miracle at Medinah spurred him on to more personal success as he held off Rory McIlroy to win the BMW Masters in Shanghai only two weeks later.
His excellent results over the course of the season saw him finish in a career-high fourth place in the Tour’s season-long rankings that year.
Back injury, loss of form and future goals
After the highs of 2012, Hanson suffered a back injury while preparing for the Northern Trust Open on the PGA TOUR in March 2013.
He went on to play a further 20 events that season but failed to challenge for any titles and by the end of 2014 had fallen outside the world’s top 200 due to a loss of form.
Back pain continued to limit his appearances in the subsequent years before he announced last year that the 2021 season would be his final one on Tour.
Now, ahead of his final event before bowing out from playing, Hanson has already begun to work with the next generation of Swedish golfers, doing so alongside fellow former Swedish professional golfer Niclas Fasth.
