The European Challenge Tour heads to Denmark for the Copenhagen Challenge, taking place at Royal Golf Club from May 25-28. Here’s what you need to know for the week ahead…
Home stars
A return to Denmark will see 14 Danes tee it up on home soil, including Lucas Bjerregaard and Joachim B Hansen, who both have two DP World Tour titles to their name.
Hansen is also a two-time Challenge Tour winner, having clinched his second victory on home soil at the Made in Denmark Challenge at HimmerLand in 2018, en route to securing his graduation to the DP World Tour. The 32-year-old, joined by Bjerregaard, a winner of the 2017 Portugal Masters and 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, are two of the high profile homegrown talents on show in the Danish capital.
Road to success
Winning in Denmark has proved fruitful for those aiming to claim their DP World Tour card at the end of the campaign. Freddy Schott claimed victory at last year’s Frederikshavn Challenge to follow a line of successful players who have won in Denmark on their way to graduating onto the DP World Tour at the conclusion of the season.
Schott clinched his maiden victory by three shots en route to finishing ninth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, while Ricardo Gouveia, who won the Made in Esbjerg Challenge in 2021, finished runner-up on the season long rankings that season.
Calum Hill reigned supreme in 2019 on Danish soil on his way to also claiming second place at the end of the season, while Hansen’s home success helped him become Challenge Tour Number One in 2018.
Challenge Tour in Denmark
This week’s tournament will be the 38th Danish Challenge Tour event to have taken place. The 1991 Formula Micro Open was the first on Danish soil, won by Peter Hedblom at Helsingør Golf Club.
Thoms Bjørn won on home soil in 1995, his first of three victories in the year that saw him crowned Challenge Tour Number One. There has also been notable wins for Soren Hansen in 1998, three-time DP World Tour winner Marcus Fraser in 2003 and James Heath in 2006.
