The DP World Tour swaps England or Denmark this week for the Made in Himmerland tournament, one of the more popular stops on the tour and one which nearly always delivers a strong week of golf as we continue the lead up to The Open.
It was a good week for Oliver Wilson a year ago when he landed his second DP World Tour title and the Englishman is back in Denmark looking to make a successful defence of the crown but a good field opposes him.
Recent Winners
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 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 three 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
We have five members of the top 100 in the world rankings on show this week with the highest ranked player being Pablo Larrazabal. His Spanish counterpart Adrian Otaegui is also in the field this week while home star Thorbjorn Olesen will be looking to win the title in front of his own supporters. Jordan Smith is also teeing it up this week and the quintet in the top 100 in the world rankings is completed by Yannik Paul.
The Race to Dubai is well into the second half of the season and seven men from within the top 20 of those rankings are here this week. As well as Larrazabal, Paul and Olesen, we have Alexander Bjork, Marcel Siem, Ockie Strydom and Sebastian Soderberg. Oliver Wilson is here as the defending champion and the likes of home ace Nicolai Hojgaard, Rasmus Hojgaard and Robert MacIntyre are other household names with tee times.
Market Leaders
We have 18/1 joint favourites this week with Nicolai Hojgaard and Alexander Bjork sharing favouritism for the tournament. Hojgaard is in that period where he is crossing the pond a lot but he has two top five finishes in his last three regular DP World Tour events, but his record here leaves plenty to be desired. Bjork on the other hand has four top 10 finishes in his last five starts and he has gone T31-T25-T6-T18 here. Of the two I would rather have him on side.
Thorbjorn Olesen is 20/1 to win the title this week a week after failing to successfully defend the crown at the British Masters last week. He finished in the top 15 there though and was third in Belgium recently so his form looks to be good. He also has a couple of top 15 finishes around here and inspired by the home crowds this week it would not be a surprise if he puts up a significant challenge to win his home event.
Jordan Smith is the only other player in the field who is shorter than 25/1. He can be backed at 22/1 to win a third DP World Tour title here. He went to The Belfry last week off the back of a T6 in the European Open and then T20 at the US Open but flattered to deceive with a T39. Confidence might come from the fact that he finished third here a year ago and he is a brilliant ball striker but in a low scoring event a dry putter could be costly.
Main Bets
Adrian Otaegui ticks a lot of boxes to me this week. He has one of the best short games on the DP World Tour and there is a lot of scrambling and short iron play to be done this week which sets up nicely for him. He is good with the wedges and the short irons and as someone who doesn’t push it off the tee he’ll play this course from the fairway for the most part. Any greens he misses he leads the tour in scrambling this season so we can back him to get up and down more than others. Otaegui was second in the KLM Open last time out and was third here in 2016. He was only T37 last year but he closed with a 64 so when it all aligns he can go low on this track and I think he could be a tough man to beat here.
Yannik Paul is the other main bet that I like this week. I’ll get the negative out of the way first which is that he is on debut here this year but he has the profile to go very well here. He is very high on the scrambling statistic which is a big thing on this course. He is also a player in form. Having won in Mallorca at the end of last season he registered second placed finishes in Thailand and India earlier in the campaign and his last two starts have seen him finish T3 in the Scandinavian Mixed and T8 at the British Masters last week. The field last week was a lot stronger than this one so slightly down in grade I’ll back the German for a second DP World Tour title this week.
Outsiders
Two South African players make up my outsiders this week with the first of them coming in the form Jayden Schaper who was touted as if not the next big thing when he came onto the DP World Tour scene, certainly a very talented player. He probably hasn’t really delivered on that promise but he ticks the scrambling boxes this week and that makes me think there is something in him here. He has been consistent rather than special this term but he is in the top 15 for stroke average this season and seventh in birdies so in a low scoring event there is a lot to like about him. His three top 10s this season have come in South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya, the latter two being on an exposed track and a fiddly one like this is. He feels a big price.
Darren Fichardt won on the Challenge Tour last week and although he hasn’t gone great guns at DP World Tour level for a while there is no substitute for winning and I’ll pay to see if the confidence of that win propels him to something significant here. Fichardt sits sixth in scrambling on the DP World Tour this season and while his last two efforts here have yielded finishes of T25 and T35 he finished the former with a 67 and carded a 64 last year. If with added confidence he can piece those rounds together all week he could waltz off with a big finish.
Tips
Back A.Otaegui to win Made in Himmerland (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back D.Fichardt to win Made in Himmerland (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back Y.Paul to win Made in Himmerland (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back J.Schaper to win Made in Himmerland (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 76.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
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