The DP World Tour moves onto another regular stop this week as the newly named Danish Golf Championship takes place. This is the tournament that closes out the closing swing as we head towards the business end of the season.
Rasmus Hojgaard thrilled the home crowds in this tournament a year ago when it was the Made in Himmerland. He is in the field looking to defend the title, albeit under a new name and on a new course but a solid field is out to deny him.
Recent Winners
2023 – Rasmus Hojgaard
2022 – Oliver Wilson
2021 – Bernd Wiesberger
2019 – Bernd Wiesberger
2018 – Matt Wallace
2017 – Julian Suri
2016 – Thomas Pieters
2015 – David Horsey
2014 – Marc Warren
The Course
We move from Himmerland to the Lubker Golf Resort for the tournament this week. The 18 holes are made up of two nine hole courses which lead us to a par of 71 and a track which in total will stretch to 7,026 yards. This is the first time this resort has hosted the DP World Tour but it has held events on both the Nordic Golf League and the Challenge Tour so it won’t be completely alien to everyone but the majority of the field will be tackling it for the first time.
We have two different nines here. One of those is quite exposed and open to the elements, which can impact proceedings in this part of the world, while the other one is said to be parkland with plenty of trees and some water in play so it will be interesting to see how it plays. It isn’t a long course so you would imagine we are looking for good iron players who are going to set up a number of birdie chances and convert more than their fair share.
The Field
There are three players inside the top 100 in the world rankings teeing it up in this tournament this week. They are Nicolai Hojgaard, the Ryder Cup star who is actually inside the top 50 in the standings going into the week and he’ll obviously want to stay there to get into all the majors in 2025. Home star Thorbjorn Olesen is another in the top 100 while Romain Langasque completes the trio. The defending champion Rasmus Hojgaard is just outside that band.
Where there is a surprise in the field this week is that there isn’t a single player in the top 10 of the current Race to Dubai standings teeing it up. In fact, the highest ranked player in those rankings is Tom McKibbin at 14 and along with Langasque and Rasmus Hojgaard, Nacho Elvira is the only other player in the top 20. Some others to note include the winner from last week in David Ravetto, Adrian Otaegui, Bernd Wiesberger and Andy Sullivan.
Market Leaders
Nicolai Hojgaard is the leading ranked player in the field this week and he is a 12/1 shot to come out on top with the title in hand. He will probably be grateful that this tournament has moved venues because his record in Himmerland was bang ordinary for a player of his talent. Followers of his will hope that was just because of the track and not an issue that he has coping with the pressure of a home crowd. He isn’t exactly screaming value to me here.
His brother, Rasmus Hojgaard, is the 14/1 second favourite to win the title. If you are a regular reader you will know that I’m no fan of backing defending champions because of the time restraints they have with media and sponsor obligations and everything and that might especially be the case here given that this is his home tournament. Of the two brothers I would probably side with Rasmus for the price and the fact he has won in front of a home crowd but I’m not rushing in here either.
Two DP World Tour stars, perhaps of the past more than the present, come next in the betting at 16/1 as Bernd Wiesberger and Thorbjorn Olesen look to get back in the winning enclosure. The latter will be extra motivated this week given that he is on home soil while the former probably is trending in the right direction but you sense he needs to get over the line before those questions of whether his motivation has gone after his stint with the LIV Golf money.
There is just the one other player shorter than 20/1 in the betting and that is the leading player in the Race to Dubai standings who has a tee time this week in Tom McKibbin. He is generally seen as a good player of exposed tracks and that will certainly serve him well around here. If form is anything to go by then a couple of months ago you would have had him high up on a shortlist but two missed cuts in his last three tournaments temper enthusiasm a little.
Main Bets
I’ll go French with my main bets this week and the first of those is Romain Langasque, a player who will be glad that Robert Trent Jones has designed this track because his sole DP World Tour win came at Celtic Manor which was also designed by him. Accurate iron play is a key factor this week and generally when the Frenchman is on song he is more than capable in that department. Langasque has shown decent form in recent times with top 10s in the BMW International Open and the Scottish Open and he put together a fair effort on a course which suited bombers over him last week. He has previously been third in this tournament so he can handle Danish conditions and I like him here.
The other player I like as a main bet is Frederic Lacroix who is having a decent campaign on the DP World Tour. He began the season with form figures of T17-T5-3-T4 and has offered up some tidy form at different times since then. He returned after six weeks off last week and was T3 with 18 under par where his approach play was spot on and that is a massive thing here. The Frenchman has played in this tournament before without too much in the way of standout results but he hasn’t let himself down either. He looks in the best form he has been in this year though and I think he could be hard to stop.
Outsiders
The outsider bets this week both have form in the book at Celtic Manor where I’m hoping the conditions are similar to here in that it is exposed with some treelined holes and undulating greens with run offs and if that is the case then Nacho Elvira should have every chance this week. He won at Celtic Manor in 2021 and he has already won in Belgium this year and he was second in Denmark a year ago so there is enough form to go with to suggest he is a chance this week. Elvira was also second in Kenya and T7 in Sweden, again form which should translate well around here. I think the Spaniard has every chance in this tournament.
There isn’t a huge amount of form for Callum Shinkwin heading into this tournament but if the layout reminds him of Celtic Manor then he’ll know that he has a record of T8-4-1 there and hopefully that inspires him here. His other DP World Tour win came in Cyprus where the conditions will be similar to here in terms of the breeze and things. He doesn’t have much in the form book this year but he was fourth at the Ras Al Khaimah where he opened with a 62 so the scoring is there if he can dig it out. There is a lot of form for Shinkwin on exposed tracks so I’ll pay to see if he can get it done here.
Tips
Back R.Langasque to win Danish Golf Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back F.Lacroix to win Danish Golf Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back N.Elvira to win Danish Golf Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 76.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back C.Shinkwin to win Danish Golf Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 111.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
