Caroline Hedwall takes one-shot lead at Scandinavian Mixed after 64

Sweden's Caroline Hedwall fired a superb 64 to claim a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the inaugural Scandinavian Mixed in Gothenburg.

Hosted by Annika Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson, the €1 million event is a first on the European Tour as it features 78 men and 78 women competing on the same course for one prize fund and one trophy.

Hedwall carded two eagles, five birdies and a solitary bogey at Vallda Golf and Country Club to reach 13 under par, a shot ahead of playing partner Joost Luiten, who returned a 65.

England's Steven Brown and South Africa's Darren Fichardt were a shot further back, with Slovenian teenager Pia Babnik, Australia's Stephanie Kyriacou, Finland's Kalle Samooja and Spain's Pep Angles on 10 under.

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Babnik played alongside Hedwall and Luiten and her 66 meant the trio were a combined 21 under par for the day.

Hedwall, who won six times on home soil as an amateur, said: “I was a bit lucky out there today. I made two eagles and holed a bunker shot, it was very enjoyable.

“The first eagle was on 16 and I hit two really good shots into the green and a good putt. Then on number six I hit a fairly poor iron shot into the greenside bunker, but I feel fairly comfortable; yesterday I had a bunker shot there and hit a good one and I made another one today.

“Hopefully, I get to play with Joost again, I really enjoyed playing with him the last couple of days. It is good being back in Sweden and I’m just going to try and enjoy myself.”

Luiten was understandably impressed by his playing partners as he bids to claim a seventh European Tour title and first for more than three years.

“These girls were playing great,” Luiten said. “They hit it a long way, I think they hit it as long as me, so they could really take some holes on and they took advantage of it.

“They were making a lot of birdies, Caroline had two eagles as well, that really helps. I tried to keep up with them and I managed to do that.

“What I do is focus on myself, there’s nothing else I can do. I just need to put in a score myself and then I’ll see where that puts me on the leaderboard compared to the men and the women. I think that’s the key.

“It was a bit of getting used to it because I was the only man in the group, so it was a bit of a different rhythm, but it makes it fun to play different formats and it’s fun to see the girls as well. They really crushed the ball; you see that in the scores.”

Stenson carded a second consecutive 70 to head into the weekend on four under par, but Sorenstam missed the cut following two rounds of 73.

Northern Ireland's Jonathan Caldwell carded seven birdies and two bogeys in a five-under 67 that brought him to seven under for the tournament.

Leaderboard

British and Irish unless stated, par 72

131 Caroline Hedwall (Swe) 67 64

132 Joost Luiten (Ned) 67 65

133 Steven Brown 65 68, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 67

134 Stephanie Kyriacou (Aus) 68 66, Pia Babnik (Slo) 68 66, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 65 69, Pep Angles (Spa) 65 69

135 Alice Hewson 68 67, Olivia Cowan (Ger) 68 67, Sarina Schmidt (Ger) 67 68, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 69 66, David Drysdale 67 68, Ashley Chesters 65 70

136 Christine Wolf (Aut) 64 72, Karolin Lampert (Ger) 68 68, Lina Boqvist (Swe) 67 69, Ludvig Aaberg (Swe) 69 67, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 67, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 69 67, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 69 67, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 68 68, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 68 68

137 Emily Kristine Pedersen (Den) 70 67, Nuria Iturrios (Spa) 70 67, Sanna Nuutinen (Fin) 68 69, Felicity Johnson 66 71, Maria Hernandez (Spa) 69 68, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 69 68, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 70 67, Oliver Wilson 72 65, James Morrison 70 67, Jonathan Caldwell 70 67

138 Atthaya Thitikul (Tha) 70 68, Magdalena Simmermacher (Arg) 68 70, Leonie Harm (Ger) 67 71, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 68 70, Wil Besseling (Ned) 68 70, Sam Horsfield 64 74, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 70 68, Robert Rock 70 68, Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 69 69, Rhys Enoch 71 67

139 Karoline Lund (Nor) 68 71, Linn Grant (Swe) 71 68, Vincent Norrman (Swe) 66 73, Aaron Rai 72 67, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 71 68, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 68, Jack Senior 68 71, Matthew Jordan 71 68, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 69 70, Svn-Hwan Kim (USA) 68 71, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 70 69

140 Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa) 72 68, Laura Fuenfstueck (Ger) 67 73, Johanna Gustavsson (Swe) 68 72, Alison Muirhead 69 71, Anne-Lise Caudal (Fra) 72 68, Maja Stark (Swe) 72 68, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 70, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 72 68, Matthew Southgate 71 69, Richie Ramsay 67 73, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 71, Jamie Donaldson 67 73, Oliver Farr 66 74

141 Elizabeth Young 70 71, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 75 66, Ashun Wu (Chn) 71 70, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 69 72

Missed Cut

142 Annabel Dimmock 73 69, Celine Palomar-Herbin (Fra) 71 71, Jenny Haglund (Swe) 68 74, Lydia Hall 69 73, Carmen Alonso (Spa) 70 72, Camille Chevalier (Fra) 71 71, Nicole Garcia (Rsa) 73 69, Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 72 70, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 72, Adria Arnaus (Spa) 69 73, David Horsey 67 75, Oliver Fisher 71 71, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 70 72, Benjamin Poke (Den) 72 70, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 70 72, Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind) 72 70, Dale Whitnell 67 75

143 Diksha Dagar (Ind) 70 73, Manon de Roey (Bel) 71 72, Kylie Henry 71 72, Tvesa Malik (Ind) 70 73, Cloe Frankish 73 70, Maha Haddioui (Mor) 72 71, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 70, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 70, Josh Geary (Nzl) 69 74

144 Becky Morgan 74 70, Tonje Daffinrud (Nor) 68 76, Agathe Sauzon (Fra) 74 70, Josefine Nyqvist (Swe) 72 72, Renato Paratore (Ita) 73 71, Justin Walters (Rsa) 69 75, Marc Warren 73 71, Robin Roussel (Fra) 68 76, Darius van Driel (Ned) 70 74, Garrick Porteous 71 73

145 Whitney Hillier (Aus) 74 71, Eleanor Givens 70 75, Kim Metraux (Swi) 72 73, Astrid Vayson de Pradenne (Fra) 70 75, Tiia Koivisto (Fin) 73 72, Luiza Altmann (Bra) 75 70, Ross McGowan 70 75, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 74 71, Sean Crocker (USA) 75 70

146 Annika Soerenstam (Swe) 73 73, Sarah Schober (Aut) 72 74, Laura Murray 74 72, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 70 76, Jake McLeod (Aus) 70 76, Toby Tree 74 72

147 Ursula Wikstroem (Fin) 73 74, Gabriella Cowley 77 70, Laura Gomez (Spa) 74 73, Filippa Moeoerk (Swe) 72 75, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 73 74, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 76 71, David Howell 74 73

148 Kelsey MacDonald 73 75, Camilla Lennarth (Swe) 73 75, Michele Thomson 73 75, Katja Pogacar (Slo) 73 75, Noemi Jimenez (Spa) 73 75, Silvia Banon (Spa) 76 72, Lily May Humphreys 76 72

149 Meghan MacLaren 76 73, Stacy Lee Bregman (Rsa) 72 77, Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso (Ita) 78 71, Chloe Williams 73 76, Maiken Bing Paulsen (Nor) 72 77

150 Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 76 74, Emma Nilsson (Swe) 76 74, Linda Wessberg (Swe) 76 74, Ricardo Santos (Por) 77 73

151 Florentyna Parker 76 75, Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 76 75, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den) 71 80

152 Carly Booth 77 75

153 Beth Allen (USA) 71 82, Amy Boulden 79 74

155 Hannah Burke 80 75, Lejan Lewthwaite (Rsa) 74 81

156 Gavin Green (Mal) 81 75

158 Jessica Karlsson (Swe) 77 81