Four appearances, three top fives and one top 20 - so reads the Challenge Tour record of Dutch prospect Daan Huizing, who is fast living up to his reputation as one of Europe’s top young players and arrives at this week’s Finnish Challenge targeting a maiden victory.
The 22 year old set the European amateur game alight last year when he won two prestigious events in barnstorming fashion, the Lytham Trophy, which he won by 11 shots, and the St Andrews Links Trophy, where he set a tournament record by finishing on 23 under par.
He took that form into his professional career as he began his Challenge Tour career in impressive style, finishing joint runner-up at the Kärnten Golf Open presented by Mazda.
The man from the town of Soest followed that incredible start with a tied fifth finish at the Bad Griesbach Challenge Tour by Hartl Resort a week later, a top 20 finish at the Swiss Challenge and another top five at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge last week.
It’s no wonder, then, that Huizing is confident a maiden professional title is imminent.
“Those first two results were great because they meant I could continue on the Challenge Tour for this season,” said the former World Amateur Number Two. “Now I can really shift my focus to this tour and to getting into the top 15 by the end of the year.
“In Austria it was just a guess how it would go for me, I just wanted to play my own game, not bother about anything else and see where it would take me and then the week after I was up there again.
“It gave me a lot of confidence that if I play well I can play for the win wherever I go, so I went to France with that feeling. You need to be sharp to have a chance to win here on the Challenge Tour and I like that, you have good incentives every week and you need to stay sharp.
“I am getting closer to that win and I hit the ball better last week than the other tournaments so I feel I am improving every tournament and with every step. I just have to keep progressing and who knows, it might be this week or another week later in the year.
“I am aiming for a win of course because I know it’s possible. I just need to stay patient.”
With Joost Luiten making waves on The European Tour and the likes of Tim Sluiter, Wil Besseling and Taco Remkes battling it out on the Challenge Tour, Dutch golf appears to be getting stronger and stronger by the year and Huizing is glad that he has such talented compatriots to look up to and to try emulate.
“With all the guys on the Challenge Tour it’s really nice,” he said. “I also know a lot of the other international players from amateur golf so you can always find someone to have dinner with or anything like that.
“I did not feel any pressure coming from the amateur career because you start from scratch and you have to prove yourself and work your way up, I like that challenge. I have succeeded in amateur golf for six years or so, from boys’ to men’s, and it is the same here. You start at the bottom of the ladder and try to climb up and for now I'm making nice progress.”
