Swede taste of success as Christofer Blomstrand wins Borders golf challenge

Blomstrand secured his second HotelPlanner Tour title with a two-stroke victory at this year’s R&A-backed Scottish Challenge near Kelso, putting him in contention for a step up to the DP World Tour next season.

The 34-year-old looked to be running away with the competition after carding a course record-equalling 61 last Friday, following on from scoring 66 the day before, and he held a four-shot lead ahead of Sunday’s final four holes but then turned in his second and third bogeys of the week, halving his advantage over fellow Swede Adam Wallin.

He managed to hold his nerve over the last two holes to finish with 70 and 68 for a 19-under-par total of 265, however, and land a £40,000 top prize and £10,000 accommodation voucher to follow up his only other tour win to date in August 2024’s Finnish Challenge in Vierumaki.

“I was shaking a bit on those last holes after the bogeys, so it was nice to finish off and get my first win for a while on the tour,” said Blomstrand, ranked 350th in the world, afterwards.

“I have to say this course has been fantastic. I came to play last year for the first time but I had a thumb injury and had to go home before it started, so I wanted to come back and compete this time.

“I have really enjoyed my week in the Borders. The area feels amazing, very beautiful actually, and of course it helps when you win the golf tournament.”

Asked how the 1997-opened Heiton course compares with others he’s played on over recent years on the tour – essentially the European Challenge Tour but made up of 28 tournaments from South Africa to China and India to the United Arab Emirates, as well as in 16 European countries – he said: “It was fantastic and compares very well. It’s one of the best on the tour.

“It is a very, very nice course. It is tough and especially in the wind this week, but the course is in great shape and it was a good test.

“I’m super happy about this week, and everything about the Roxburghe and the Borders has been fantastic actually.

“I am now looking forward to going home and seeing my family, but I would love to bring them back here one day.”

Runner-up Wallin, only 24 and in his second year as a pro, was happy just to have got so close to a maiden win in his first year on the tour.

“I finished about three hours before Chris and I wasn’t paying too much attention because he was well ahead, but when he dropped two shots, then I got off my chair and came to watch,” he said.

“We have been staying together all week and we support each other a lot on the tour, all Swedes together.

“I would have loved to have won it, and I was delighted to finish with a 62 on the last day – that’s when you want to bring your best golf – but he played very well all week and it’s always fun seeing your countrymen do well.

“If anyone was going to beat me, I’m glad it was Chris.”

Christopher Addison, the Schloss Roxburghe’s golf sales manager, was delighted with how the tournament went, starting with hotel ambassador and former Scotland rugby captain Greig Laidlaw winning a pro-am with Eddie Pepperell and Chris Wood last week.

“It has been a fantastic week from start to finish and has really shown the course and the resort at its best,” he said.

“There has been a lot of work put in by the staff here, right across the hotel, spa and golf, to make people welcome and show that the Borders is somewhere you would want to come back to, and it’s been great to hear so many pro golfers, who play the best courses in the world, say they rate the course highly and want to play here again.

“That’s great for Borders golf but also great for tourism and the Borders’ economy.”

Cheshire’s David Horsey, American John Vogelpohl and Spain’s Javier Barcos Garbayo tied for third place on 269, two shots behind Wallin.

South Ayrshire’s Michael Stewart was the only Scot to make the top ten, securing a seven-way share of eighth place with a 12-under-par score of 272.

Peebles’ Craig Howie missed the cut, placing joint-92nd, after opening rounds of 71 and 70.

This year’s Scottish Challenge was the second in a row to be played at Heiton and 18th all together since the tournament’s launch at Aberdeenshire’s Murcar Links in 2006.

Its current residence in the Borders is its second after being hosted by the Macdonald Cardrona Hotel near Peebles in 2007 and 2008.

Blomstrand is the first Swede to win the challenge, eight previous victories having gone to English golfers, four to Scots and one apiece to competitors from the Netherlands, France, the USA and Spain.