The European Challenge Tour is in Denmark for the Frederikshavn Challenge – presented by HESSEL this week. Here are three players to keep an eye on as the tournament unfolds…
Form horse: Niklas Regner
Austrian Niklas Regner is beginning to re-find the kind of form he enjoyed earlier in the season, with his best finish of the year coming at last week’s Vierumäki Finnish Challenge. The 23-year-old came fifth in Finland – his second top ten of the year – to continue his relatively consistent season with his eighth cut from 12 events. He is currently 52nd on the Road to Mallorca Rankings and is eyeing a strong finish to 2022 to give himself a chance of finishing inside the top 20 – and this week could be the best place to start. Regner’s best Challenge Tour finish to date came on Danish soil in 2021, when he finished runner-up to Ricardo Gouveia at the Made in Esbjerg Challenge.
Home favourite: Oliver Hundebøll
Denmark’s Hundeboll has enjoyed a stand-out campaign thus far, placing him second on the Road to Mallorca Rankings as the season enters its final ten weeks. The 23-year-old picked up his maiden win at the Mangaung Open in South Africa earlier this year and has followed that up with three further top tens and a second place finish at the Italian Challenge Open. His most recent impressive performance came at the Hero Open on the DP World Tour last month, where he finished fifth.
The Outsider: Ondrej Lieser
Ever heard the saying ‘beware the injured golfer’? Well, Czech Ondrej Lieser is just that. The 2020 Road to Mallorca Number One has been battling a wrist injury for the last few months, but is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He is yet to make a cut from five Challenge Tour starts this year, but with his wrist pain beginning to ease he could be one to watch this week. Remember, he knows how to win, having emphatically won in back-to-back starts in 2020 as he raced to the top of the Rankings.
