Rasmus Højgaard has set his sights on emulating Thomas Bjørn as a two-time champion of the Omega European Masters when he makes his title defence as the DP World Tour visits Golf Club Crans-sur-Sierre for the 50th time.
The Dane became a three-time Tour winner at the age of 20 last year after producing a bogey-free seven-under 63 in the final round to claim a one-shot victory at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in the Swiss Alps.
Højgaard overtook 2018 Ryder Cup captain Bjørn as the fastest Dane to a Tour title with his victory at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in 2019 and he admits his competitive nature is spurring him on this week.
“It would be very cool (to join Thomas Bjørn as a two-time winner of this event),” said the 21-year-old, who would become the seventh player to successfully defend the title since the tournament was first played in 1923, and only the third after Seve Ballesteros and Matt Fitzpatrick since the formation of the DP World Tour in 1972
“I was practicing with Thomas last week in Himmerland, and he said “you know Rasmus, one of us has won twice in Crans”. I really want to get that second win here so that I can jab him a little bit. I just have to go out, focus on myself, and play some good golf and see where it ends up at the end of the week.”
The impressive starts that both Rasmus and his brother Nicolai, a two-time winner on Tour himself, have made in the professional scene have received widespread acclaim, including effusive praise from 15-time Tour winner Thomas Bjørn, who celebrated success in Switzerland in 2011 and then in 2013.
The Højgaards created history last year by becoming the first brothers to win Tour events in back-to-back weeks, with Rasmus intent on ensuring he continues to put himself in contention on a more regular basis after already registering two top-ten finishes so far this season.
“It’s always easy to say that I want to have better results this year,” he added. “I’ve been playing a lot of good golf the first two rounds and fairly average on the weekends. I’ve not contended that much. It’s my goal to be more in contention and see if I can sneak in another victory, if not, just be more consistent."
Both bothers will head to their homeland to play in the Made in Himmerland in Farsø next week, before attention switches to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
“We are very competitive (he and his brother Nicolai). When we were younger, we could barely speak to each other after one of us played well. We’ve definitely matured and support each other more. I was there to see Nicolai win for the first time (in Italy last year). It was nice to share with him and we could both celebrate.”
Another former champion in the field this week is Miguel Ángel Jiménez who his making his 32nd appearance in the event.
The Spaniard, winner of 21 Tour events, has only missed one edition of the tournament since his debut in 1989 and is thrilled to return to the scene of his 2010 triumph once again.
“This is my favourite place to play golf and I love coming here every year,” he said. “I am 58, I don’t know how many more years I will be coming. But if I’m still hitting the ball OK, I’m in good condition, and I feel like I can still make birdies, you’ll see me here.”
Jimenez now largely plays on the PGA Tour Champions, where he has already won three times this season, but admits he still gets a huge sense of pleasure at playing with the younger players.
“I love to come here and play on the DP World Tour,” he added. “I like to compete with the young players. I play three round tournaments on the Champions Tour, apart from the Majors, which are four rounds. I still like to play tournaments like this with a full field, four rounds. I still like to do that sometimes. A lot of the young guys, I don’t know them anymore, I just see how far they are hitting it on the range.”
