Mats Lanner

Swedish professional golfer

Mats Åke Lanner (born 5 March 1961) is a Swedish professional golfer, who formerly played on the European Tour. In 1987, he became the second Swedish player to win a European Tour tournament.

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. 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.

He qualified for the European Tour on his first visit to Qualifying School and finished tied 16h at his first European Tour start, the 1982 Tunisian Open. The year after he won his first professional tournament, the Swedish PGA Championship. The following year, the Swedish Golf Tour (SGT) was established and Lanner came to win ten times on his domestic tour, still the most by any player ever, despite three of his wins in Sweden did not count as SGT events. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

No. DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s) up110 May 1987 Epson Grand Prix of Europe Matchplay Championship1 up Jeff Hawkes216 Jan 1994Madeira Island Open−10 (70 67 69=206)*2 strokes Howard Clark, Mathias Grönberg, Peter Hedblom321 Jun 1998Madeira 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.

No. DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s) up123 Sep 1984Stiab Grand Prix20 holes Magnus Persson230 Sep 1984Kullenburg Play Off−3 (72 73 69 71=285)7 strokes Anders Forsbrand, Tommy Jansson316 Jun 1985Owell Open−5 (71 70 71 71=283)7 strokes Anders Forsbrand411 Aug 1985SI Wang Open−12 (67 71 70 68=276)7 strokes Nils Lindeblad56 Jul 1986SI Trygg Hansa Open−7 (71 74 64=209)3 strokes Thomas Engström617 Aug 1986Gevalia Open−11 (72 63 73 69=277)6 strokes Anders Sørensen716 Aug 1987Gevalia Open (2)−8 (72 69 71 68=280)3 strokes Mikael Högberg