After an eventful stop in England for the Betfred British Masters, the DP World Tour moves yet again to another country for this year’s installment of the Made in HimmerLand in Denmark.
With Ryder Cup implications still on the line for many of this week’s field, the upcoming The Open too is on the minds of Europe’s best.
The top three finishers at this week’s event will play their way into The Open in just two weeks' time.
There will be a strong home presence for those on the DP World Tour and the Danish fans, most notably the Hojgaard twins as well as Thomas Bjorn. The Danish fans embrace the game like no other.
This year marks the ninth renewal of the Made in HimmerLand, previously the Made in Denmark.
The event was once held at Bjorn’s home course of Silkeborg Ry Golfklub in 2018 but has been held at the Backtee New Course at the HimmerLand Golf and Spa Resort for each of the other eighth installments.
The event too has been shuffled forward in the schedule this year as it was played in early September a year ago.
The Field
As previously mentioned, there will be several Danish golfers teeing it up this week in hopes of winning on home soil. The Hojgaard twins and Bjorn lead that forefront.
The top three placewinners here this week will punch their ticket for The Open at Hoylake in just two weeks.
On top of The Open implications on the line, the Ryder Cup continues to be the governing storyline here this week.
Not only do the Hojgaard twins come in as home favorites, they too are looking for a chance to represent Europe on Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team come September.
Other notable golfers playing this week in Denmark include Yannik Paul, Thorbjorn Olesen, Jordan Smith and Pablo Larrazabal.
Oliver Wilson comes in as the defending champion of this event and will be playing again this week. Wilson’s improbable victory ended his eight year winless drought on the DP World Tour a year ago.
Several big names of the DP World Tour have won this event including Thomas Pieters, Matt Wallace and Bernd Wiseberger.
Former winners of this event playing this week include Wilson (2022,) Julian Suri (2017) and Marc Warren (2014.)
The Course
The HimmerLand Resort is home to two separate courses, but it is the New course that will be the focus this week.
It plays as a Par 71 at just 6,686 yards.
Prior to the inaugural edition of this event in 2012, the course underwent a $2.5 million renovation led by Philip Christian Spogard of Spogard and VanderVaart. All 18 greens were relayed and every single bunker on the course was reshaped.
There was also a change to the course layout prior to the 2019 edition as well.
The course is rather open and windswept which has it play more to the feel of a links style course.
Due to this, scoring here is on the easier side of things with the winning scores failing to reach double-digits under par just once since 2014.
The fairways here are littered with bunkers and narrow as they approach the holes. This forces the longest hitters on Tour to think twice before going for the green.
The course as a whole is very exposed (especially holes 11-15) and undulating.
The Bentgrass greens sit around 10.5 on the stimpmeter.
The 16th hole is the shining-gem of this course. The green is surrounded by an amphitheater that can hold 3,500 fans, creating a unique fan and player experience alike. This makes the par-three one of the best tournament holes on all of the DP World Tour.
The 16th too plays as the shortest hole in DP World Tour history where it played as just 79 yards in round four eight years ago.
The 11th par-five is the most daunting and challenging hole of the course. It sits at 645 yards and actually plays as a par-six for resort goers.
The Weather
As of the time of writing this there is a 50-percent chance of precipitation on Thursday and 40-percent chance on Sunday with little-to-no chance of precipitation on Friday and Saturday. Temperatures are set at 66-degrees on Thursday before gradually making its way to the mid-70’s for Saturday and Sunday. There is a very large chance of rain in the days leading into the event. Therefore the course will be wet and play soft. Winds will be a factor this week, especially on this wide open course. They’ll begin at 16 miles-per-hour on Thursday before settling between 11-to-13 miles-per-hour for Friday through Sunday. In all, there will be some wet and soft conditions for the golfers this week which will help push scores even lower.
Key Stats
Scrambling
Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)
Greens in Regulation (GIR%)
Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)
Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)
Birdie or Better Percentage
Sand Saves Percentage
Driving Accuracy
Betting Card
Alexander Bjork (+1400)
My overall favorite this week per my model, and by a large margin, is Sweden’s Alexander Bjork. Bjork has been one of the hottest golfers on the entire DP World Tour heading into this week. He’s on the back of back-to-back-to-back top ten finishes on Tour with a T8th at last week’s Betfred British Masters, T9th at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed and T6th at the Porsche European Open. Additionally, dating back to May, Bjork also placed fourth at the DS Automobiles Italian Open and T4th at the Soudal Open. He is also second on Tour in scrambling, fourth in SG: APP, sixth in driving accuracy, ninth in SG: PUTT, tenth in birdie or better percentage, 15th in GIR% and 18th in SG: ATG. His score this week in my model is hindered by a 107th placement in sand saves. I feel that this is the week that Bjork finds his way to the top of the leaderboard.
Pablo Larrazábal (+3400)
Larrazábal is already a two time winner on Tour this season with victories at the KLM Open and Korea Championship Presented by Genesis. He also placed T10th at the Hero Indian Open earlier this year. He spent some time over in the States, playing in both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open. His game too measures up to this event and course. He’s currently fifth on Tour in scrambling, 14th in SG: ATG, 22nd in sand saves, 27th in SG: PUTT, 28th in SG: APP, 49th in GIR%, 82nd in birdie or better percentage and 105th in driving accuracy. He’s a bit wild off the tee at times but does show some flashes of accuracy. He’ll need that this week but even if he is to miss off the tee, he’s an elite scrambler who has the rest of the skill set to compete here this week.
Nathan Kimsey (+9500)
I love the value that Kimsey brings to the table this week. He’s currently second on Tour in driving accuracy, seventh in GIR%, tenth in both scrambling and SG: PUTT, 41st in sand saves, 70th in birdie or better percentage, 99th in SG: ATG and 114th in SG: APP. His approach play leaves a bit to be desired but is an elite scrambler who in turn ranks high in GIR%. He is also an elite putter who is also accurate off the tee. Kimsey did miss the cut last week in England but did make eight consecutive cuts heading into last week. He hasn’t been playing lights out by any means but his game matches up wonderfully here this week and with the DP World Tour being so hard to predict, a +9500 who does everything we need out of him this week is a good play in my book.
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