Rasmus Hojgaard (-12) has booked a seat this Friday on Europe’s flight to Bethpage. If there was any doubt about the Danish twin’s presence in the next Ryder Cup, he is dispelling it with a flurry of birdies in the first two rounds of the Danish Golf Championship. Today, he delivered a splendid card of 64 strokes and has positioned himself as the standout leader of his playing group. It’s as if he’s said: “This is mine, and no one is going to take it from me.”
He has a five-stroke lead over the next player with a completed round. Interestingly, the main threat to his leadership is another player trying to secure the last spot on the team in this exciting final sprint. It’s Marco Penge. At the time of writing this report, he was at -10 with nine holes to go.
Rasmus has earned his place on the team throughout the year. Not in vain, he occupies the eighth position in the ranking and still has chances to qualify directly between this week in Denmark and next week’s British Masters. Certainly, he has wonderfully recovered from the blow of missing out on the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Whether by direct qualification or captain’s pick, it now seems very unlikely not to see this Hojgaard in the New York Ryder.
His round this Friday was built on a monumental streak of eight under par in nine holes, between the 16th and the 6th. It was a cinematic half-round that started with a birdie and continued with an eagle on the 18th that was just shy of being an albatross. Spectacular. Rasmus not only wants to join the Ryder Cup team, but he also wants to do it in grand style.
His brother Nicolai (-3), on the other hand, needs a bit more in his upcoming golf rounds to earn his spot. Today, he delivered a par card, insufficient to break through, although in his favour is the fact that his brother will be there, who already formed a good partnership with Rahm in Italy, his performance was good, and he continues making birdies relentlessly. The problem is inconsistency, something that is not necessarily bad when playing match play in fourball or singles.
Alfredo García Heredia (-5) and Sebas García Rodríguez (-4) are well-positioned in the standings, hovering around the top 10. Both need a great week to accelerate the work of retaining their DP World Tour card for another year. They have work ahead. Alfredo is in 178th place in the Race, while Sebas is 197th. They are far off, but we know that in golf, everything can change in just one week. This is what the Asturian and the Madrilenian are aiming for. By the way, Diego Suazo is Sebas’s caddie this week at Fureso Golf Klub. Initially, it’s a temporary arrangement, but so far, the result couldn’t be more positive.
Alfredo had a round of 70 strokes that started very well, going three under par, and Sebas delivered a great card of 67 strokes, the second-best round of the day after Rasmus and tied with Kristoffer Reitan (-2). Rubbing shoulders with these names right now can only be good. Great comeback, by the way, from the Norwegian golfer. Sebas made seven birdies and two bogeys. Alfredo’s round could have been better. His shots to the green were superb. In the five birdies he made, he left them very close, and on the 18th, he saved par with another great shot from the fairway. A shame about a couple of three-putts that prevented him from being even closer to the lead.
As for the rest of the Spaniards, Eugenio Chacarra (-2) has secured the cut with a par round, and Albert Boneta and Joel Moscatel have been left out.
