Rasmus Højgaard defends his title on home soil as the Danish Golf Championship celebrates its tenth anniversary at a new venue. Here are your five things to know.
Højgaard defends after making history
Højgaard has had to wait 13 months to defend his title but he is no stranger to taking the long way round after emerging from a six-hole play-off last year to become the first Danish winner of this event. He held off Nacho Elvira after coming from seven shots behind with a 64 to finish level with the Spaniard on 13 under par. At the sixth extra hole, Elvira flew his second shot out of bounds into the practice grounds, leaving Højgaard to two-putt for a fourth DP World Tour victory.
“I’m speechless at the moment," Højgaard said afterwards. "To be fair, I didn’t think I’d end up in a play-off – it’s quite amazing. To win a home event, it’s amazing. It isn’t that long ago that I was one of those kids trying to get balls and signed gloves, so it’s cool to see them out here supporting us. This is better than I could ever dream of. We’ve wanted a Danish winner for so long now, so to be the first one to do it is amazing.”
Brother Nicolai is also in the field this week along with Danish great Thomas Bjørn, who is serving as Chairman of the event.
New venue for tenth anniversary
Since making its debut as the Made in Denmark in 2014, this event has featured in every DP World season barring the Covid-affected 2020 campaign and this week marks both its tenth edition and its tenth year. Scot Marc Warren won the inaugural staging, with Austrian Bernd Wiesberger being the only player to lift the trophy twice in back-to-back editions in 2019 and 2021. England is the most successful nation with victories for David Horsey, Matt Wallace and Oliver Wilson, while Belgian Thomas Pieters and American Juian Suri both also tasted victory before Højgaard's home glory.
A new chapter in the event begins this year as Lübker Golf Resort plays host for the first time. The venue has previously hosted the Challenge Tour, ECCO Tour, and European Tour Q-School, with Flemming Astrup and GolfPromote as organisers and Carl Aage Nielsen who owns the resort said: ”I am very excited that the DP World Tour and the Danish Golf Championship are coming to Lübker. It is a recognition that our course is fantastic, and we are looking forward to welcoming both international and Danish players to an unforgettable week."
Rising stars on show
Home fans may be excited to get a glimpse of the Højgaards, Bjørn and eight-time DP World Tour winner Thorbjørn Olesen but there will also be plenty of exciting, emerging Danish talent on show. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen is currently leading the Road to Mallorca on the European Challenge Tour having already registered two wins this season. They came in a run of five consecutive top tens from March to May and the 25-year-old will be looking to impress on the DP World Tour stage. Hamish Brown is another Dane flying on the Challenge Tour and he currently sits third on the Road To Mallorca after his win at the Kaskáda Golf Challenge and a runner-up finish last time out. Add in exciting amateur Jacob Skov Olesen, who recently made the cut at The 152nd Open Championship and sits second on the Global Amateur Pathway Rankings, and the future is looking as bright as the present for Danish golf.
Global Swings finale
This week sees the end of the Global Swings section of the season ahead of the Back 9 starting at next week's Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo. The Closing Swing comes to an end this week with last week's winner David Ravetto and the man he beat into second Jesper Svensson the only two players who can overhaul Robert MacIntyre at the top of the Rankings and take home the US$200,000 bonus. The leading DP World Tour member (not otherwise exempt) will also qualify for the BMW PGA Championship, the third of five Rolex Series events this season. But that is not all that is on offer on Sunday as a further $1million Bonus Pool will be shared among the leading ten players on the Race to Dubai who have played a minimum of eight ‘regular’ Global Swings events outside the Major Championships and Genesis Scottish Open. It's all still to play for.
Battery power replaces generators in professional golf first
This week's event has boosted its sustainability credentials by ditching generators and being powered by battery and grid power from 100% renewable energy sources – a first for a professional golf tournament. Traditionally, tournaments use multiple generators to provide a temporary power supply in areas where direct grid power is not an option. Whilst there has been a move in recent years to power these generators via cleaner biofuels rather than diesel, they still produce a carbon footprint. The Danish Golf Championship is embracing innovation by installing a large battery on site that is powerful enough to meet the temporary energy demands during the tournament. It will get its power from the local energy grid, which in turn will be getting its power from 100% renewable sources. This means that the tournament’s total electricity supply will be 100% renewable for the first time. The battery is approximately three metres tall and 2.5 metres wide and will be housed in the spectator village. It has a maximum usable energy of 380 kWh, which is equivalent to 30,000 mobile phone batteries.
