The DP World Tour has centre stage this week with the PGA Tour season having concluded and it heads to Denmark for the Made in Himmerland tournament, one of the better events on the circuit which has clearly been saved for maximum exposure.
Bernd Wiesberger enjoyed the spotlight here last year when he completed a successful defence of the title but there will be no hat trick for the Austrian as he has other engagements this week meaning we will get a different champion.
Recent Winners
2021 – Bernd Wiesberger
2019 – Bernd Wiesberger
2018 – Matt Wallace
2017 – Julian Suri
2016 – Thomas Pieters
2015 – David Horsey
2014 – Marc Warren
The Course
We return to the wonderful Himmerland Golf and Spa Resort this week. This course was used for the first four stagings of this tournament and then the last two so it will be fairly well known to those who are regulars in the event. The standout hole on the course is the 16th hole which is a par three that can be shortened to a total yardage in double figures but a big score can still be run up there. The crowds here are always excellent which makes for a good week of golf.
The course is a par 71 which only stretches to 6,751 yards so you don’t have to be a brutal hitter to get round here. You do need to be an accurate one though as the rough is often unmaintained and is said to be consistent and juicy. Therefore finding the fairways will be huge. The course is exposed, undulating and has a number of hazards dotted around. A look through the previous runnings of this event suggests the best short games come to the fore although there is a new trend growing in the bigger hitters prospering.
The Field
Although the tournament takes centre stage this week it doesn’t have the level of field that perhaps it might do. The main reason for that is because it is the BMW PGA Championship next week so the heavy hitters are keeping their powder dry for that. We do still have four players in the top 100 in the world here though. They are headed up by Adri Arnaus with Pablo Larrazabal, Thriston Lawrence and home man Nicolai Hojgaard the other three.
The first three named are also in the top 20 in the Race to Dubai rankings and two others in that ranking tee it up this week looking to make ground on those not here. They are Ewen Ferguson and another home star in Thorbjorn Olesen. Richie Ramsay, Connor Syme, Oliver Bekker and Ashun Wu sit just outside the top 20 in the Race to Dubai and they have tee times here. Matt Wallace and Robert MacIntyre add some star flavour to the field.
Market Leaders
On the best prices it is 22/1 the field this week which highlights just how competitive the field for this tournament is. Matt Wallace is the man with the tag of being the tournament favourite. He was second in Switzerland last week when he led the field in strokes gained putting. He is a former winner of this tournament but that was when it wasn’t held here. He was sixth here in 2017 though so he has got a decent spin around here.
A trio of players come next in the betting at 28/1. They are Adri Arnaus, Richard Mansell and Robert MacIntyre. Arnaus won in Catalunya earlier in the year but last week was his first top 10 since then. He has never made an impression here. Mansell recorded his second top 10 in three starts in Switzerland last week but missed the cut on his only spin here while MacIntyre has little to no form to speak of but was second here in 2019 and should have the game for this course.
Thriston Lawrence was the man who was successful in the European Masters last week and he is 30/1 to follow that up with another success here. In essence the South African has the game to go ok here but the only time he teed it up on this course he shot 79 and 77 and missed the cut. That was eight years ago though and he’s clearly a better player now. The big problem is winning takes a lot of emotional energy especially when you do it for the first time at a level and he might be a little flat at some point.
Alexander Bjork is the only other player in the field who is shorter than 35/1. You can get the Swede at 33/1 this week. He has a couple of top 20s in his last two starts and he was sixth here last year so there is a fair but to like about the Swede, not least his statistics from last week. He shot 63 in the second round last year so we know he can handle the course and he is entitled to be a legitimate contender this week.
Main Bets
Two Englishmen standout to me this week with the first of them being the favourite Matt Wallace. After a PGA Tour season which was a bit of a non-event for Wallace he returned to the DP World Tour scene in Switzerland last week and came second, his second top five finish in four starts on this tour since March. He also has a top 20 in there for good measure too so generally when he comes down a grade he is extremely competitive. He led the field in putting and scrambling last week and they are major weapons this week. His iron play wasn’t as crisp but I suspect the altitude played a lot of that and here in normal conditions on a much shorter course I expect him to be more dialled in with the scoring clubs. Wallace has won in Denmark before and has a top 10 here and should be a bit shorter than 20/1 in this company.
There is no doubt in my mind that Eddie Pepperell will be a standout player once again and there are signs that he is coming back to that sort of form. He has two top 10s and a top 20 in his last three starts had going back one more start he has been dialled in on the approaches. He has ranked 3-1-10-9 on strokes gained on approach in his last four starts and in the last three he has gone 4-16-30 in strokes gained with the putter. We know he has a good touch around the greens and with some big events on the horizon I would expect Pepperell to be serious about things in the coming weeks. It might also be that his latest Twitter spat with Lee Westwood will have fired him up and I fancy we’ll get a good showing from EPep here.
Outsiders
A couple of outsiders float my boat this week with the first of them being JB Hansen. Hansen has a pretty terrible record around here on the DP World Tour but he has won here on the Challenge Tour and it is the same track so there is no reason why he can’t go well this week. The Dane has seen his form drop off a cliff with eight missed cuts in 10 starts prior to last week but things might just be changing for him. He was T14 in Switzerland and shot rounds of 65 and 64 which aren’t the sort of rounds you can mishit your way to. He was sixth in strokes gained approach and 18 with the putter in that tournament and if he can build on that on a course he has good memories on having won on it before, not to mention home support, Hansen could outrun his price.
The other one for me this week is Daan Huizing. The Dutchman has gone 3-MC-15-33-23 for his last five events so he is in decent enough form and now he is on a course where his good iron play and putting records in recent times can come to the fore. Huizing hasn’t played here since that Challenge Tour event which Hansen won in 2018 but the Dutch player was fourth in that event so he has played well around here in the past. In a tournament which has a real open feel to it I think the Dutchman could be overpriced here.
Tips
Back M.Wallace to win Made in Himmerland (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8)
Back E.Pepperell to win Made in Himmerland (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8)
Back them here:
Back J.B. Hansen to win Made in Himmerland (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back D.Huizing to win Made in Himmerland (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
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