Will any Euro MPO players make a lead card during the first eg of the tour?

[The Shide]

This is an interesting question. And as already said above, would have been better to include FPO.
It shouldn't be surprising to see any of the European MPO players make a lead card. But it will, for most. But not those who are paying attention to international DG. And at some point during the season, I do expect to see Europeans on lead cards.

Oh, side bar, sorry. At this point, do we consider Simon a European player still, or an American? Or Canadian (which, technically is in North America...)?

[Jolt]

It will be fun to see if Linus can play at his rating in the US. . he is rated the same as Conrad, Gibson and Leiviska.

But is have to be hard to play on a course for the first time and try to beat players that have played that course hundreds of times.

[spinachd]

Originally Posted by Jolt

It will be fun to see if Linus can play at his rating in the US. . he is rated the same as Conrad, Gibson and Leiviska.

But is have to be hard to play on a course for the first time and try to beat players that have played that course hundreds of times.

Yes I think they have some serious disadvantages coming from the cold to the unfamiliar. I guess they typically go to Spain this time of year but the courses are short.

Linus definitely seems to be all-in. He is registered for everything. Dude is only 22. I hope he takes one down.

Regarding FPO, I think a better question is will the 950ish US players be making lead cards. Things are about to get a lot tougher.

This is definitely going to be the most interesting season ever for pro DG spectating. I’m way too interested already.

[Jolt]

Linus has played 12 tournaments in 2020-2021 and won 9 of them and never been out of the top 3

So i wonder what that make to him mentaly when he now have to play the best and even a top 10 will be hard to reach

[DanJon]

I could see Linus or Seppo making lead card.

[flatflip]

Originally Posted by The Shide

This is an interesting question. And as already said above, would have been better to include FPO.
It shouldn't be surprising to see any of the European MPO players make a lead card. But it will, for most. But not those who are paying attention to international DG. And at some point during the season, I do expect to see Europeans on lead cards.

Oh, side bar, sorry. At this point, do we consider Simon a European player still, or an American? Or Canadian (which, technically is in North America...)?

Yeah I don't think anyone doubts whether there will be Euro reps on the lead cards in FPO.

Simon definitely still counts but he's not playing until Texas States. Probably b/c there's a bebe on the way (February if I remember correctly -- buckle up, big guy!).

There aren't a ton of high level players coming early. Linus and Seppo could definitely be competitive (it's not clear if Seppo is registered for anything past LVC). Looking past Waco, there's a Finnish crew with some talent headed over. I can see any of Mäkelä, Lehtinen, or current Euro champ Anttila making noise at the April tourneys. Will be fun to watch.

[ray1970]

For what it’s worth, Eric Oakley finished ahead of every European at the 2019 Tyyni in Finland, including most of the players mentioned in this thread.

[The Shide]

Originally Posted by ray1970

For what it’s worth, Eric Oakley finished ahead of every European at the 2019 Tyyni in Finland, including most of the players mentioned in this thread.

And now they've had 3 years to improve their games.

[ray1970]

Originally Posted by The Shide

And now they've had 3 years to improve their games.

That is definitely true. I think Linus was probably about 19 years old in the tournament I mentioned and only fell about six or seven strokes short of beating Eagle. Now he has a couple of years more experience. I guess we’ll all see how he does soon.

[Nale72]

Originally Posted by ray1970

That is definitely true. I think Linus was probably about 19 years old in the tournament I mentioned and only fell about six or seven strokes short of beating Eagle. Now he has a couple of years more experience. I guess we’ll all see how he does soon.

Yes we'll see and it's hard to tell since the Europeans have been pretty isolated for a couple of years. But it didn't stop Kristin Tattar of having a pretty good run in the US last year if that could be any indication.

For what it's worth, Linus finished 14 strokes in front of Simon Lizotte (17 ahead of Silver Lätt, 19 ahead of Seppo Paju and 22 ahead of Albert Tamm) at the Europeans in August -21.

The only tournament in 2021 he played against someone from the US was in the wooded 3 round A-tier Heatland Open in Sweden that he won, 9 strokes ahead of Philo (4th).

However, I'm not expecting Linus to be at his best in the first tournaments 2022 just switching from Innova to L64. But I would certainly not be surprised to see him on a lead card later this year and/or finishing at least top 10 in a pro tour event in 2022.