Anders Forsbrand

Anders Forsbrand (born 1 April 1961) was one of the first Swedish professional golfers to make a major impact on the European Tour.

Anders Forsbrand
Personal information
Full nameAnders Gunnar Vilhelm Forsbrand
Born (1961-04-01) 1 April 1961
Filipstad, Sweden
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight85 kg (187 lb; 13.4 st)
Nationality Sweden
ResidencePonte Vedra Beach, Florida, U.S.
SpouseStewart
Children2
Career
Turned professional1981
Current tour(s)European Senior Tour
Champions Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
Professional wins15
Highest ranking35 (18 October 1992)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour6
European Senior Tour1
Other8
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT11: 1993
PGA ChampionshipT9: 1992
U.S. OpenT32: 1996
The Open ChampionshipT4: 1994
Achievements and awards
Swedish Golfer of the Year1984, 1987, 1992

Early life

Forsbrand was born in Filipstad, Sweden. He began playing golf at Uddeholm Golf Club, a small club with a 9-hole course in Värmland, Sweden. He later came to represent nearby and bigger Karlstad Golf Club, with an 18-hole course and better practice facilities. His younger brother Vilhelm, born 1970, also became a professional golfer and came to win twice on the Challenge Tour.

Forsbrand won the unofficial 1977 Swedish Youth Championship, Colgate Cup, at his age level (16 years old).

Amateur career

In June 1980, Forsbrand won the Swedish Junior Stroke-play Championship in rainy conditions at Växjö Golf Club. A month later, he was part of the Swedish team, winning the 1981 European Youths' Team Championship in Dusserldorf, Germany.[2]

He represented Sweden at the 1981 European Amateur Team Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland. It earned some attention that Forsbrand, in a playoff against Ian Hutcheon, Scotland, hooked his drive, on the first hole on the Old Course, over the 18th fairway out of bounds in to the town.[3]

Professional career

In November 1981, Forsbrand borrowed money from his local club pro, turned professional and traveled by train in four days to the European Tour Qualifying School at the Algarve coast in Portugal. He finished tied 8th, easy qualified for the next season and took the train for another four-day journey back home to Sweden.[4]

His first professional win was the 1982 Swedish PGA Championship, at the time the most important domestic pro tournament before the Swedish Golf Tour was founded two years later.[5]

He played on the European Tour from 1982 until 2003. In 1987, he became the first Swede to win a stroke-play tournament on the European Tour. He won six individual titles on the European Tour and finished in the top 25 of the Order of Merit seven times, with a best of fourth place in 1992. In 1993, he became the first Swedish golfer to play in all four major championships in the same year.

Forsbrand led Sweden to victories in the two most prestigious professional nation team tournaments, the World Cup and the Dunhill Cup, within three weeks in October and November 1991. Together with Per-Ulrik Johansson, he was close to defend the 1991 World Cup title from Rome, Italy for Sweden in 1992 in Madrid, Spain, but the Swedish team finished second, one shot behind the United States team of Fred Couples and Davis Love III. Forsbrand finished third individually both in 1991 and 1992 (tied).

He had a special penchant for low scoring and (as of July 2020) still shares the record for the lowest final two rounds in a major championship, scoring 130 in the 1994 Open. His fourth place finish in that championship, did not get the attention it should have earned in Swedish media, as Jesper Parnevik sensationally finished second after losing the tournament on the last hole.

Despite finishing in the top 13 of the European Tour Order of Merit four times, Forsbrand never made the European Ryder Cup team. His best year, 1992, when he finished fourth, was not a Ryder Cup year and he could not continue his good form until the selection of the team the year after. Anyway, in 2004, Bernhard Langer, the European Ryder Cup Captain, named Forsbrand as his vice-captain for the 35th Ryder Cup Matches against the United States at Oakland Hills Country Club, Michigan, U.S., in which the European team had a resounding victory over the U.S. team.

Forsbrand began playing on the European Senior Tour after turning 50 in 2011. In August 2012, he won the SSE Scottish Senior Open, becoming the first Swede to win on the European Senior Tour.[6]

Awards, private life

Forsbrand was three times awarded Swedish Golfer of the Year, male and female, amateur and professional; 1984, 1987 and 1992. In 1984, he was only the second professional, after Charlotte Montgomery the year before, to receive the award and no amateur has since.

In 1992, the three teammates at the 1991 Dunhill Cup victory, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Mats Lanner and 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, he was awarded honorary member of the PGA of Sweden.[3]

At the opening of the Swedish Golf Museum in June 2000, he was one of ten players, among names as Annika Sörenstam and Jesper Parnevik, presented as important in the history of Swedish golf.[7]

Forsbrand now lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, with his wife, Stewart, and their children Alexander and Margaux.

Amateur wins
  • 1980 Swedish Junior Stroke-play Championship

Professional wins (15)

European Tour wins (6)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 6 Sep 1987 Ebel European Masters Swiss Open −25 (71-64-66-62=263) 3 strokes Mark Mouland
2 31 Mar 1991 Volvo Open di Firenze −14 (71-72-66-65=274) 1 stroke Barry Lane
3 29 Mar 1992 Volvo Open di Firenze (2) −13 (69-69-67-66=271) 1 stroke Peter Senior
4 26 Apr 1992 Credit Lyonnais Cannes Open −15 (65-70-68-70=273) 1 stroke Per-Ulrik Johansson
5 23 Jan 1994 Moroccan Open −12 (70-68-69-69=276) 4 strokes Howard Clark
6 8 Oct 1995 Mercedes German Masters −24 (64-64-67-69=264) 2 strokes Bernhard Langer

European Tour playoff record (0–3)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 1992 BMW International Open Paul Azinger, Glen Day,
Mark James, Bernhard Langer		 Azinger won with birdie on first extra hole
2 1992 Canon European Masters Jamie Spence Lost to birdie on second extra hole
3 1993 Scandinavian Masters Peter Baker Lost to par on second extra hole

Swedish Golf Tour wins (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 11 Aug 1984 Swedish International Stroke Play Championship −9 (69-71-71-68=279) 5 strokes Peter Hamblett
2 18 Aug 1984 Gevalia Open −8 (72-71-64-71=278) 4 strokes Claes Hultman

Other wins (6)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 22 Aug 1982 Swedish PGA Championship +5 (76-73-71-73=293) 4 strokes Per-Arne Brostedt, John Cockin
2 19 Sep 1983 Stiab GP 3 & 1 Göran Knutsson
3 3 Nov 1991 World Cup
(with Per-Ulrik Johansson)		 −13 (142-148-134-139=563) 1 stroke  Wales − Phillip Price and Ian Woosnam
4 10 Nov 1991 Benson & Hedges Trophy
(with Helen Alfredsson)		 −13 (73-66-68-68=275) 2 strokes Penny Grice-Whittaker and Malcolm MacKenzie,
Bryan Norton and Pearl Sinn
5 15 Sep 1992 Equity & Law Challenge 20 points 3 points Russell Claydon
6 12 Oct 1997 Open Novotel Perrier
(with Michael Jonzon)		 −12 (75-74-64-140=343) Playoff Santiago Luna and José Rivero

European Senior Tour wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runners-up
1 19 Aug 2012 SSE Scottish Senior Open −17 (66-66-67=199) 1 stroke Philip Golding

Results in major championships
Tournament 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Masters Tournament T11 CUT
U.S. Open T33 CUT T32
The Open Championship CUT T8 T16 T29 CUT T38 T34 CUT T4 T49 CUT
PGA Championship T9 CUT CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1984 Open Championship)
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00000121
U.S. Open00000032
The Open Championship000123117
PGA Championship00001131
Totals0001351911
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (1991 Open Championship – 1993 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

References
  1. "Week 42 1992 Ending 18 Oct 1992" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  2. "Junior-SM, Gisela och Anders stod pall i ösregn; Grattis Europamästare" [Junior Nationals, Gisela and Anders stood up against heavy rain; Congratulations European Champions]. Svensk Golf. No. 6. August 1980. pp. 30–31, 68–69.
  3. Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den stora sporten [Golf - The great sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. pp. 73, 96, 188, 196, 197, 283. ISBN 91-86818007.
  4. "Klara för Europatouren" [Ready for the European Tour]. Svensk Golf. No. 9. December 1981. p. 26.
  5. "Järn-ettan Anders' sehervapen" [The One-iron, Anders' weapon for victory]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 7. September 1982. pp. 32–34, 68.
  6. "Historic Scottish win for Swede Forsbrand". PGA European Tour. 19 August 2012. Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  7. "Golfens profiler". Swedish Golf Museum. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
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