Mats Lanner

Mats Åke Lanner (born 5 March 1961) is a Swedish

Lanner was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, and learned the game at Albatross Golf Club, situated on the island Hisingen in the northern part of the city of Gothenburg. He was also a member at Strömstad Golf Club, near the Norwegian border, were he won the club championship at 16 years of age.^[2]

After twice winning the yearly 72-hole tournament Gothenburg Open at his home club, but never been nominated to any national amateur teams, he turned professional after the 1981 season, sponsored by a member of his club.

Professional career

He qualified for the

His best European Tour Order of Merit finish was 19th in 1987. Lanner was close to qualify for one of twelve spots in the European Ryder Cup team, as the first Swedish player ever, that year. The top nine players on the Order of Merit after the German Open would automatically qualify and three players would be picked by the European team captain Tony Jacklin. Prior to the final event, Eamonn Darcy was in the 9th qualifying place with Lanner in 10th. Despite starting with a 62 and leading after the first round, Lanner finished one shot ahead of Darcy in the German Open, but Darcy retained his qualifying place and Jacklin did not choose Lanner among his captain's picks.^[5]

In May 1989, Lanner reached a career best 84th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Lanner was a member of the winning Swedish team at the 1991 Dunhill Cup at the Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland. He holed the winning putt for his team in the final match of the tournament, between Sweden and South Africa, on the first playoff hole in the last game, played between Lanner and Gary Player.^[4]

At the 1989 World Cup at Las Brisas Golf Club in Marbella, Spain, the Swedish team of Lanner and Ove Sellberg finished tied 3rd with United States, behind Australia and Spain. Lanner finished 8th individually.

Private life

Lanner got the opportunity to turn professional in the fall of 1981, when he received sponsorship from Jan-Ove Johansson, the founder of Albatross Golf Club, through the company Swedish Sports Promotion, later forming the team Club Vagabond, consisting of four young Swedish golf professionals. The company organized an exhibition with Jack Nicklaus at Barsebäck Golf & Country Club on 15 September 1983, in which Lanner also took part, with economic loss for the organizer and the company later went bankrupt. This meant that the company could not fulfill its obligations to Lanner, who during 1984 became personal responsible for his arising costs on tour. In September 1984, when Lanner also had lost his playing rights on the European Tour, he won pro tournaments in Sweden on three straight weeks and earned the possibility to restart his career.^[6]

After retiring as a player in 2002, Lanner began a career as a referee on the European Tour.

Lanner's son Tobias (born 1997) has played as an amateur on the Swedish professional mini-tour Future Series.

Awards

In 1992, the three teammates at the Swedish Dunhill Cup victory the previous year, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Lanner and Anders Forsbrand, was each, by the Swedish Golf Federation, awarded the Golden Club, the highest award for contributions to Swedish golf, as the 11th, 12th and 13th recipients.^[4]

In 1998, Lanner was awarded honorary member of the PGA of Sweden.^[4]

Amateur wins

• 1979 Opel Cup (Forsbacka GC)
• 1980 Gothenburg Open
• 1981 Öijaredspriset, Gothenburg Open, Strömstad-Driven

Sources:^[7][8][9]

Professional wins (16)

European Tour wins (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	10 May 1987	Epson Grand Prix of Europe Matchplay Championship	1 up		Jeff Hawkes
2	16 Jan 1994	Madeira Island Open	−10 (70-67-69=206)*	2 strokes	Howard Clark, Mathias Grönberg, Peter Hedblom
3	21 Jun 1998	Madeira Island Open (2)	−11 (70-66-68-73=277)	1 stroke	Stephen Scahill

*Note: The 1994 Madeira Island Open was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

Challenge Tour wins (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
7	11 Jun 1989	Teleannons Grand Prix	−8 (73-68-70=211)	Playoff	Magnus Grankvist, Mikael Karlsson, Ove Sellberg
8	13 Aug 1989	Gevalia Open	−13 (69-69-70-67=275)	Playoff	Joakim Haeggman
3	18 Aug 1991	Gefle Open (2)	−19 (64-71-68-66=269)	1 stroke	Magnus Rosenbäck
4	4 Oct 1998	Telia Grand Prix (2)	E (71-70-74-69=284)	Playoff	Morten Backhausen, Per Nyman

Challenge Tour playoff record (3–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1989	Teleannons Grand Prix	Magnus Grankvist, Mikael Karlsson, Ove Sellberg	Won with eagle on third extra hole
2	1989	Gevalia Open	Joakim Haeggman	Won with birdie on second extra hole
3	1998	Telia Grand Prix	Morten Backhausen, Per Nyman	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Swedish Golf Tour wins (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	23 Sep 1984	Stiab Grand Prix	20 holes		Magnus Persson
2	30 Sep 1984	Kullenburg Play-Off	−3 (72-73-69-71=285)	7 strokes	Anders Forsbrand, Tommy Jansson
3	16 Jun 1985	Owell Open	−5 (71-70-71-71=283)	7 strokes	Anders Forsbrand
4	11 Aug 1985	SI Wang Open	−12 (67-71-70-68=276)	7 strokes	Nils Lindeblad
5	6 Jul 1986	SI Trygg-Hansa Open	−7 (71-74-64=209)	3 strokes	Thomas Engström
6	17 Aug 1986	Gevalia Open	−11 (72-63-73-69=277)	6 strokes	Anders Sørensen
7	16 Aug 1987	Gevalia Open (2)	−8 (72-69-71-68=280)	3 strokes	Mikael Högberg

Other wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	7 Aug 1983	Swedish PGA Championship	E (74-75-70-73=292)	3 strokes	Per-Arne Brostedt
2	15 Sep 1984	Ingarö Mästermöte	−11 (66-67-70-70=273)	4 strokes	Freddy Carlson

Sources:^{[3][10][11][12]}

Results in major championships

Note: Lanner only played in The Open Championship.

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Professional

• Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Sweden): 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991 (winners)
• World Cup of Golf (representing Sweden): 1987, 1989, 1990
• Europcar Cup (representing Sweden): 1988 (winners)

See also

• List of golfers with most Challenge Tour wins

References