Home winner in Scandinavia?

In its 16-year history there has been a home winner of the Scandinavian Masters on three previous occasions and there is every chance that the Swedish flags will be waving atop the Arlandastad Golf Club to fete another local winner. Sweden will be well-represented this week as two-time winner Jesper Parnevik makes a rare return home for a tilt at title No3, while 1997 champion Joakim Haegmann will be hoping to emulate his compatriot's feat. However, after a year of steady improvement it is Peter Hanson who could well emerge triumphant. The 29-year-old has recovered from a 2006 to forget with a series of impressive performances and looks to be coming to the boil in time for the tournament he narrowly missed out on in 2004. Hanson came a respectable 23rd at Southern Hills last weekend, a finish that followed a top five at the Deutsche Bank the previous week. Eleventh, third and thirteenth in the three events leading up to The Open hint that Hanson is back in the swing of things and he is likely to find the going considerably easier on home soil than in the furnace of Tulsa. Pelle Edberg is another Swede liable to do well in what has been something of a watershed year. The 28-year-old came third at the Smurfit Kappa European Open last month and followed that up by coming fourth at the Barclays Scottish Open and then 12th at Carnoustie. Following the rigours of a packed schedule Edberg can be forgiven his missed cut at the Deutsche Bank last time out, which was due to one bad second round - he followed up a 69 with a 78 - and will be looking to prove a point that he is a contender to win Swedish hearts. The Scandinavian Masters will be graced by four former Major winners in the form of John Daly, Corey Pavin, Jeff Sluman and Tom Lehman with Daly the most obvious contender given his fantastic PGA Championship start. The erratic Wild Thing has the game to rip this short course and could just as easily be ripping up his scorecard at the end of the second round but at 50/1 merits a small saver. In a tournament that has been largely sidestepped by weary Major competitors Simon Dyson and Ross Fisher could capitalise after showing glimpses of star quality this season. Dyson shot a final round 64 to finish top European in sixth place at the USPGA, while Dyson's 19th and 11th at the Scottish Open and the Deutsche Bank hints that he is also on an upward arc. Verdict: 2pts Peter Hanson @ 20/1 (Sporting Odds); 1.5pt Pelle Edberg @ 28/1 (General); 1pt Simon Dyson @ 25/1 (General); John Daly 0.5 @ 50/1 (General); 0.5pt Ross Fisher @ 80/1 (General)