Sheffield's Matt Fitzpatrick plays it cool over title defence

Fitzpatrick, 22, had missed the cut in three of his previous four events before last year’s victory and arrived in Sweden on the back of a tie for 47th in the BMW PGA Championship.

And although he comes into this week’s event after finishing 12th at Wentworth following a closing 66, a change of venue and the presence of home favourites Alex Noren and Henrik Stenson means Fitzpatrick is happy to accept the role of underdog.

After an eight-year absence, the Nordea Masters has returned to Stenson’s home club of Barseback, which Fitzpatrick only saw for the first time on Wednesday.

“I don’t think it brings any extra pressure (being defending champion),” Fitzpatrick told a pre-tournament press conference. “People aren’t expecting me to win at the end of the day.

“People are expecting Alex Noren or Henrik Stenson to win, which is completely understandable. For me, as strange as it sounds, it just feels like a normal event.

“It’s great to come here as defending champion. Obviously it’s on a different course so it has a different feeling to it, but it’s a great feeling knowing that the trophy is technically still in your hands.

“I just need to go out there tomorrow and hopefully hold on to it.

“I have to admit it’s pretty difficult to get a feel for it today with how windy it is. I like the layout, I love the holes in the trees. Obviously it’s a little more open down by the sea.”

Fitzpatrick felt he was “a million miles” ahead of schedule after his victory 12 months ago, but went on to make his Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine and win the DP World Tour Championship in November.

“It gave me a ton of confidence,” the world number 40 added. “The big thing for me was that I hadn’t been playing very well in the lead up to it and then all of a sudden, from not playing well to winning, it showed me how quickly the game can change.

“Obviously being able to do that gave me confidence for the rest of the season. If I was going to have a bad spell, I knew that it could turn any week, so it really helped me.”