After a big shift in attitude and focus, Simon Forsström went from grinding on the Nordic Tour to triumphing on his 11th visit to DP World Tour Qualifying School, earning his first DP World Tour victory, and securing a Major debut at the U.S. Open in less than a year.
When Simon Forsström lifted his first DP World Tour title after 14 years as a professional, it was dubbed as a ‘fairy-tale’ victory.
In reality, his trophy is propped up by almost a decade and a half of relentless grinding through the highs and lows of feeder Tours and 11 trips to DP World Tour Qualifying School.
In that time, the Swede has had to navigate through turbulent form and his own personal negativity surrounding his game, but it was ultimately his ability to reflect and overcome that which led to the biggest change in his attitude. And his fortunes.
Last year, he gave himself one last chance to make it, and knew he needed to change everything if he wanted to succeed and progress to the biggest stage.
“I wanted to give it at least a chance,” he told the DP World Tour.
Some tough inward conversations led him to a completely new mentality, as he told himself “You need to change everything to get out of here. You have to give it a last chance.”
He then went on to win on the Nordic Golf Tour in May of last year. He followed it up with victory at Qualifying School to earn his card on the DP World Tour for the first time in November. And now, he tees up in his first Major at Los Angeles Country Club as a DP World Tour winner.
Forsström's story is far from a conventional fairy tale, but the last 12 months have undoubtedly changed the entire trajectory of his career.
Sitting down with the DP World Tour, Forsström admitted that last year wasn’t the first time he’d felt like things needed to change.
Having turned professional in 2009 and spending his formative years trying to break through on satellite Tours with one win in 2011 at the Hogtorp Cup, Forsström decided that because he couldn’t change himself, he would change his coach.
“I think first I changed coach in 2014, because I felt like I needed to change something and I can’t change myself,” he said.
“I needed something to change, in my swing or something.”
It took some time, but the decision seemed to pay off. In 2015 he earned promotion to the Challenge Tour thanks to one victory and three runner-up finishes on the Nordic Golf League, and it was there he grinded for the next few years. His breakout Challenge Tour win came in 2016, but by 2019 he was back on the Nordic Golf League. He earned promotion once again that year, but history was set to repeat itself and he found himself back there once more after a disappointing 2021.
“I went to the Challenge Tour through the top five on the Nordic League, and then I grinded on the Challenge Tour until COVID started.
“Then I played pretty badly in 2021. I had a category but it was a terrible category, so I focused on the Nordic League last year to get back to the Challenge Tour.”
And that’s when everything changed.
There was something of a turning point for Forsstrom after what had been a tough couple of years thanks to the impact of COVID, a dip in form and results, and the reality of financially supporting himself.
“I think in 2019 just before COVID I started hitting the ball really bad and I was really negative about everything and instead of trying to fix it I just kept going. And then the COVID year, golf was really boring. We had some tournaments but you couldn’t do anything: It was a hotel by yourself, couldn’t eat with anyone, everything was strict.
“And money is not everything, but you need to be able to afford playing golf because everything is expensive – especially those years when everything went more expensive with the hotels and the cars and everything. And then you play bad golf and you see you always go minus every week with the cash. Luckily I had something from the years before so it wasn’t a big problem but still it feels bad.
“Then last year when everything was over, it felt like you have to give it a last chance and you need to change everything to get out of here. Golf is so fun so I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to give it at least a last chance.”
There was something of a turning point for Forsstrom after what had been a tough couple of years thanks to the impact of COVID, a dip in form and results, and the reality of financially supporting himself.
“I think in 2019 just before COVID I started hitting the ball really bad and I was really negative about everything and instead of trying to fix it I just kept going. And then the COVID year, golf was really boring. We had some tournaments but you couldn’t do anything: It was a hotel by yourself, couldn’t eat with anyone, everything was strict.
“And money is not everything, but you need to be able to afford playing golf because everything is expensive – especially those years when everything went more expensive with the hotels and the cars and everything. And then you play bad golf and you see you always go minus every week with the cash. Luckily I had something from the years before so it wasn’t a big problem but still it feels bad.
“Then last year when everything was over, it felt like you have to give it a last chance and you need to change everything to get out of here. Golf is so fun so I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to give it at least a last chance.”
Referencing his attitude, he admits that “it definitely changed last year.”
“That’s why I became much better. The focus and the attitude, just playing my own golf and making it easier and try to hit the greens. Knowing I don’t need to go to every pin, and sometimes par is the key. But the most important thing is stop being negative, try to be positive and happy when you play because when you are being negative, which I have in the past, it’s very hard to play good golf.”
His shift in perspective translated to the course, and after his win on the Nordic Golf League, he spent the rest of the season on the Challenge Tour.
“I played really good and was second on the Ranking, then events in the Nordic countries came on the Challenge Tour and I got second in Denmark, eighth in Sweden and I almost kept my card on Challenge Tour. I kept playing and getting invites because I did well. Then I got to the Challenge Tour Grand Final to get into the Final Stage of Q-School.”
It was Forsström's 11th trip to Q-School, but just his third to the Final Stage. This time, it felt like a home game to the 34 year old, who had played at the host venue roughly 50 times before.
After years of disappointment, the 11th time was the charm.
“This is actually the first time I ever played well in any Q School ever, and I played amazing since I won. I don’t know what happened.
“I was pretty lucky with the course because the Nordic League ahs always had a winter series in February there and I’ve played the course probably 50 times. I know the course, it’s almost like a home course and I like the Hills Course, where other people tend to find it more difficult (than the Lakes Course). I think the key is confidence on the course because I’ve been so many times, I know where to miss and where to be aggressive.
“Last year golf just felt pretty easy, especially in the fall.”
But the feeling of ‘easy’ golf didn’t come without work, and his promotion to the DP World Tour was all fuelled by the talk he’d given himself.
“You need to practice that a bit. When you play bad you focus on so much around you that you get angry with a bad lie, and I just try to – the cliché one shot at a time.”
He started his first season on the DP World Tour with a top ten in the Joburg Open, and capped off the end of 2022 with a tie for fourth at the AFRASIA Bank Mauritius Open.
Forsström added another top ten at the Hero Indian Open in February, and just over a month later he entered the winner’s circle in Belgium with a one-stroke victory at the Soudal Open.
For Forsström, the culmination of years of trying to make it on the world’s stage of golf finally came to fruition.
“This is what I dreamt of.
“It means everything. You want to be playing on the highest level in Europe, and play against the best players.
“With a win everything is easier. When you go through Q-School you don’t get into every event, but with a win I get into everything except Majors. It feels great. I can what events I want to play, I know I can play for a couple of years without the stress of making the card.”
“The win means a lot.”
And this week, he will be teeing up in his first Major championship, having earned his place in the field through the DP World Tour's U.S. Open Qualification series.
"I think it's going to be an amazing experience to see everything around how difficult the golf course is going to be. You hear it's super difficult, but it's going to be nice to see for yourself how it is."
He will get his fist round under way alongside Carlos Ortzi and amateur Maxwell Moldovan.
