Matt Cooper in Finland

Last updated: 31st August 2010

Hot Pace

For the third time this year the South African Lee-Anne Pace completed victory.

Two weeks ago she won on the links course at Conwy, a result that was reminiscent of Louis Oosthuizen's win at St Andrews. Today also reminded observers of Oosthuizen's Open performance but in this case it was less because of the conditions than the manner of her complete dominance of the field.

She later admitted that her three-putt on the 13th green (for bogey) was the result of a mental mistake but in all other respects she was never genuinely in any trouble.

Earlier in the season she was, naturally, nervous ahead of her maiden win in Switzerland, then, a few weeks later, she was pleased to sleep on a lead and win in Wales, and now she has tasted a third type of win: an assertive and assured one.

In spite of their inability to seriously test the winner, for others near the top of the leaderboard there were reasons to be positive leaving Helsinki.

Runner-up Vikki Laing confirmed her second placed finish by holing out from 168 yards for eagle on the final hole (something Beatriz Recari did last year for victory). It is the second time she has finished runner-up this year. She lacks the wins, but what she does currently share with her friend Pace is a relaxed and confident demeanour on and off the course.

In a tie for third place was Holland's Christel Boeljon who is another yet to taste victory but, thanks to her accurate long game, is getting ever closer to a breakthrough. She has three runners-up spots this year and a total of nine top 20s.

Also in a tie for third was the American Mollie Fankhauser. It was a return to form for her in a year of four top seven finishes. Her 2010 has been a European Tour in all senses of the phrase: not just playing golf across the continent but also travelling around it. She and her caddie Kelly are two of my favourite people on tour: always smiling, friendly and interested. They have thrived on the opportunity to encounter different places, interact with other cultures and meet new people.

Following the last few groups I also bumped into India's Sharmila Nicollet (see below) who was disappointed to miss the cut but also clearly inspired by what she had experienced this week.

She was walking the wet course in a tiny pair of shoes after her boots were stolen, but she brushed it off as a minor irritant. Instead she was concentrating on the leaders. I got the real sense that was hungry to learn and also itching for the chance to work on her flaws before returning a better and wiser golfer, probably in the Hero Honda Indian Open in November.

Beth Allen

Mollie Fankhauser might have been enjoying the Ladies European Tour this year, but for another American, the 28-year-old Beth Allen from California, this is her third year on tour and the excitement is yet to dim.

Like Mollie, Beth is one of my favourite people to bump into on the tour and for the same reason: I only have to catch their eye and I start smiling. In both cases I get this funny feeling that we're all in on a secret joke but I've got no idea what the joke is, except that it might be that we all think the world is a bit mad and we can't work out why everyone else can't see it.

It might have something to do with the fact that we're involved in a game that is conservative and old-fashioned - and we all rather like being the odd ones out.

Beth certainly stood out yesterday morning at the breakfast buffet which was an absolute madhouse, packed with hungry people putting their appetite before any sense of decorum; it was all a bit claustrophobic and absurd.

I looked up and there, on the other side of the cheese and ham selection, was Beth, looking exactly how I felt: baffled, curious and amused.

When she saw me she did what she always does: pulled her head down into her shoulders, looked up at me with her bright eyes (which were behind one of her many pairs of ridiculous glasses), gave an apparently sweet-natured grin and then uttered something brilliantly inappropriate in her bark of a South Californian voice.

It's no coincidence that she mixes the cute smile and dirty sense of humour because her favourite comedienne is Sarah Silverman (it's the first thing we ever talked about) and it also makes sense because she's smart enough to know that she thrives on contradictions (or what are seemingly contradictions for the rest of the world).

She is the daughter of a professional, Jim Allen, who was director of golf for the city of San Diego, but she took her time falling for the game, preferring basketball to begin with.

When, at 16, she did turn to golf, her father was a big influence and after a succesful time playing the game at college, it was he who suggested she turn pro, all of which made it tough on her when he died early in her professional career. Beth shocked her father with her tattoos and clothes ("I was kind of like a bit out there for my dad") but the respect the two had was clear when I caught up with Beth during the final round to talk about her career.

Other aspects of professional golf made her early forays on to the LPGA difficult. She found the atmosphere stifling which made her anxious; not surprisingly her golf suffered. The tour veteran Mardi Lunn suggested she try Europe - the Australian had a feeling that it would suit Beth's personality.

"I didn't really know to begin with," Beth says. "But the LPGA was tough for me. It was so serious; constant hard work was what everyone did. That's okay for some players but I needed something away from the golf, some sort of release."

Lunn is now a well-respected caddie but she's probably never read a putt as brilliantly as she read Beth Allen because the last three years have seen her blossom on this side of the pond.

Yet again she has smashed stereotypes: Americans in Europe are often portrayed as fish out of water, but some of them, Beth (and Mollie) included, are the greatest internationalists of all.

Between tournaments she heads to southern Sweden to stay with family friends (as comfortable as she is around Europe, she retains a soft spot for Scandinavia and many of her best results have been there), then, during tournaments, she soaks up what every destination has to offer.

Again, though, it pays not to be hasty when assessing her. She might be a party girl, but behind the jokes and fun-loving lies a fiercely competitive personality.

She spends lots of her time on tour with Breanne Loucks and Mel Reid. It might, on first glance, be yet another contradiction that having left the LPGA because she found the tireless hard work oppressive, she linked up with Reid, probably one of the LET's most LPGA-like performers.

"Me and Mel are both really competitive, though, and I think that's what links us. Plus life isn't that simple is it? It's messy and interesting and funny."

With that she laughs out loud and I join in. That's not just what I think of life, but also what I think about Beth Allen: messy, interesting, funny; making me smile.

Lapland

Before flying out of Helsinki I bumped into Jeehae Lee and Kim Welch at a Finnish restaurant where I learned that Lapland has got more to offer golfers than just Santa Claus.

Jeehae and Kim were excited because they'd been informed by their dinner companion, Kimmo Ekroth of GolfPiste.com and Finnish Golf Digest, that not only can you play golf throughout the night in Lapland during mid-summer, but you can also have a reindeer caddie.

The only thing that confused me was that whilst they excitedly debated if Donner or Blitzen was the best bet to carry their bag, they casually mentioned that they'd actually just eaten reindeer as their main course.

Not a bad threat for a golfer to make to her caddy: misread this putt, pal, and you'll be medium rare and served with French fries and a side salad tonight.

Final result in the athletics

I'm sure readers of the blog are on tenterhooks so here's the final result in the Ruotsi-ottelu (a.k.a. The Swedish Battle): the Finnish men won 214-195 and the women lost 182-226. The man I met in the bar on Friday night will probably be drinking at least 10 pints of gin and grapefruit juice in celebration ...

SATURDAY

Lee-Anne Pace

When South Africa's Lee-Anne Pace equalled the course record of 64 to take a three shot lead into the final round it completed a remarkable 24 hours for her.

Last night she managed to leave her wallet on a tram and, after cancelling her credit cards and panicking about the potential consequences, she discovered this morning that a family had found the wallet and handed it into the police who used a hotel receipt to identify her.

Relieved of that stress she said she found the golf itself quite easy and when she gave herself a few tap-in birdies early in her round that sense could only grow.

At the start of the season Golf365 spoke to Lee-Anne about her preparation for the season after she had enjoyed a 2009 which included ten top 20 results and a ranking of 21st finish in the Order of Merit. It was the best year of her career and she was not ready to fall prey to rising expectations.

"I don't always think that having expectations is bad," she said, "as long as you realize your strengths as well as your weaknesses. I try to turn expectations into goals for the year, both big and small. I know that if I reach these individual goals, I will be successful and therefore live up to the expectations. I think it is important to dream big, but pay attention to the small things. Keep it simple."

She has done exactly that this year after a slowish start which saw her register two top 20 finishes ahead of her trip to Switzerland in mid-June.

Victory in that event at Losone was followed by a fifth in Portugal and fourth in Tenerife.

She performed solidly in the British Open and Evian Masters but then missed the cut in Ireland, since when she has rediscovered her form in style.

She won in Wales, was second in Scotland and now has the chance to add a third title of the year, in the process taking control of the Henderson Order of Merit.

If she hadn't started with a round of 76 in Scotland (which left her 32nd) she might be on the brink of winning a third title in a row.

"I played well last year but I am handling pressure so much better," she said after her round. "Experience has helped; understanding what to do when I am near the lead."

"But I've made sure my game is in good shape and I've asked good questions of what is needed. The last two weeks I prepared with knock-down shots and lag putting for the links courses in Wales and Scotland. But this week I have been hitting higher, more attacking shots and practising six to ten foot birdie putts."

Watching her players, caddies and officials all agree that she is relaxed, confident and playing the golf of her life. It has not come without hard work, but that graft completed she can now reap the rewards.

Pulling the crowds in

Yesterday Bethan, the LET media manager, bumped into an Australian couple who had arrived from Asia early in the morning.

The had flown with Finnair and had been intrigued when the airline suggested to all passengers that they make their way to the course to enjoy the action.

Today I also bumped into spectators who had been pulled in by the Finnair marketing campaign. In this case it was two girls who had heard a radio advertisement which I too had heard, albeit not understood (my driver explained it to me).

In it a boyfriend says to his girlfriend, 'I want to go fishing today,' and she replies, 'No, take me to Tali Golf Club to watch the golf.'

Tina and Hanna haven't played golf, but they live close to the course and fancied watching a few hours. They were enjoying it, especially following the local heroine Minea Blomqvist and when I last saw them they had even organised their very first lessons.

More from my driver

He also told me about last year's winner Beatriz Recari who he was supposed to give a lift back after her win. "Instead she drove and I sat in the back with her caddie," he said. "I think she might have fancied buying the car and was road testing it." To be fair, you'd have to win on the LPGA before you'd start splashing out on a car with the winner's cheque.

An alternative universe

Ever wondered what it would be like to live in a place where it was athletics and not football that inspired grown men to wear wacky outfits? To make other grown men wear nasty nylon replica shirts. To inspire groups of people to walk the streets singing and chanting. To prompt thousands to pack the pubs talking and arguing about the sporting action they had just witnessed.

Wonder no more - just come to Helsinki.

Yesterday and today the Olympic Stadium hosted what the Swedes call Finncampen (The Finn Battle) and the Finns call Ruotsi-ottelu (The Swedish Battle), an annual athletics match that has been going since 1925.

During dinner (in a small cheap restaurant near the Hilton Hotel) we watched the action on the television, and when my tram dropped me off near the stadium a little later I found myself amongst thousands of fans packing the streets and bars.

I popped into one and fell into conversation with a man who was quite heated about the tactics in the 5,000 metres. Remarkable stuff.

Although the battle is still quite tense it is nothing compared to past matches.

In 1931 a dispute in the 800 metres led to punch-up between the contestants. Diplomacy went out of control and the Swedes attempted to get the great Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi banned for being a professional.

The were successful - so much so that he was banned from the 1932 Summer Olympics.

After day one the Finnish men lead 107-98 but the women trail 93-111.

FRIDAY

Looking for another exciting Finnish

This is the sixth running of the Finnair Masters. Two years ago local girl Minea Blomqvist triumphed to send the home crowds happy and last year Beatriz Recari completed victory with arguably the shot of the season.

She began her week with rounds of 65 and 64 to take control of the event only to be caught in the final round by Denmark's Iben Tinning.

No matter. In the first extra hole Recari holed a 4-iron from 161 metres to secure her maiden LET title.

If we have a conclusion half as dramatic as that we'll be in for an exciting Sunday.

Spicing it up

In the last few years Indian golf has grown in strength. First Jeev Milkha Singh became a strength on the European Tour, followed by half-Indian Daniel Chopra doing likewise on the PGA Tour.

In the meantime the likes of SSP Chowrasia, Shiv Kapur and Jyoti Randhawa added titles around the world.

Then last week Arjun Atwal - already a multiple winner on the European Tour - claimed a win on the PGA Tour: the first by a player representing India (Chopra flies the Swedish flag).

But what of the women? Smitri Mehra has played on the LET for a few years but the real breakthrough might be made by another player.

And that could be 19-year-old Sharmila Nicollet who has taken the small-scale Indian Tour by storm in the last two years - indeed last month she won the first two events of this season by 13 and 14 strokes!

As I discovered today she is the first to admit that the tour is not deep in talent, but you can only beat the opposition you are up against and to do so that comfortably has to show a certain ruthlessness.

Three years ago she played alongside Laura Davies as an amateur in an invitational event in her home city of Bangalore, but today was her first professional start outside India.

"I was a bit nervous," she said. "There are some high expectations back home about my trip here so perhaps I was thinking of that. But I relaxed after a poor start. I was four over par after eight holes but finished only five over par."

"I'm hoping to make the cut tomorrow. That is my first target and it will be a good step for my game.

"Now that I have done so well on the Indian Tour I need to make a move up to another level, I think. That will probably be on the Asian Tour first.

"I'm thinking of playing the LET Q-School but the reason is that I think it will demonstrate what level the game is at."

Her talent is all the more impressive because she doesn't come from a golf-mad family. Her uncles play a bit, but she largely took the game up out of personal interest and has been playing since she was 12-year-old.

She has also been inspired by Arjun Atwal's superb effort last week. "Even people who don't know about golf were talking about it," she said.

One day they might be getting that excited about Sharmila Nicollet.

The other first-timer

Nicollet wasn't the only LET debutant today - Russia's Galina Romitstrova was also making her first appearance on the European stage.

Unlike the Indian player, however, the 23-year-old didn't prepare with two wins but in the smoke of Moscow.

For most of August the peat bogs and forests around the Russian capital burned, sending toxic fumes and smog across a huge area. Visibility was poor and many took to walking around with face masks - hardly ideal conditions for practising golf.

She made a solid start to her round though. "I didn't really have too many nerves," she said, "Well, maybe on the first tee in front of the people ... all three or four of them."

The day didn't end so well as she collected a one shot penalty for an infringement, but she refused to blame it on her sister Uliana, who is carrying her bag this week.

Instead she pretended to hold Maria Verchenova responsible. "She's been helping me this week, showing me what happens at an event. But she didn't tell me about one shot penalties ..."

How do you explain a win?

Every week Golf365 attempts to discover exactly how or why a player won the previous week's events with our regular Winning Ways feature. The idea is that there must be something behind the victory, some clue that helps us understand this bizarre game.

But sometimes, perhaps, it really is a mystery.

That, at least, is what France's Virginie Lagoutte-Clement thinks after her win last week in the Scottish Open.

The tournament began early - on a Wednesday - and yet on the preceding Sunday evening she was admitting that her year had taken a turn for the worse.

She had played well until early July - indeed she had a putt on the final green in the Tenerife Open to force the winner Trish Johnson into extra holes.

Lagoutte-Clement said she was motivated in that early season by the desire to play in the Evian Masters, something she ultimately succeeded in doing.

However once she had missed the cut there her drive disappeared.

It wasn't helped by the fact that she then played the Ricoh British Open and the S4C Wales Championship of Europe on links courses. "I really don't like links golf very much," she told me today.

She missed the cut in both events, as well as in the Irish Open in between, to complete a run of four abbreviated weeks.

So she arrived in Scotland to play a links course, in no form and de-motivated.

How come she won then? "I don't know," she laughed. "I did like the look of the course when I saw it, because it was a bit more wooded than most links courses. And I played every shot as it came. But it was still weird and unexpected!"

Helsinki

I arrived in the Finnish capital city on Thursday afternoon and in just a few hours I managed to pack in an absurd amount of activities.

I caught the bus to my accommodation for the week (the hostel at the Olympic Stadium), walked into the city centre, survived a rain storm, watched a live brass band in the city centre gardens, watched another free live concert (this time by a rock band made up of members of the army), then stumbled across a bizarre activity called - absurdly - Cooper (it involves running as hard as you can for 12 minutes - I have no idea why 12 is the magic number), returned to the Olympic Stadium where I watched the Finnish and Swedish athletes warm up for today's annual athletics match, next I stood on a hill and watched HJK Helsinki play Besiktas in the Europa League (boring match, interesting punch-up in the crowd) and I concluded the day with some more live music, this time jazz in a small bar.