Course Overview. Furesø Golf Klub to the north of Copenhagen in the east of Denmark is our venue this year and the DP World Tour gets its first look at the layout which opened in 1975 as a 9-hole par 3 course and has gradually evolved since.
Described as a parkland course, there are 3 sets of 9 holes here each with unique characteristics, with this week’s layout combining two of the nines. The combined card adds up to 7,011 yards for its par of 71, according to the DP World Tour website, with the front 9 significantly shorter than the front. As ever, take early yardages on a new course to the Tour with a pinch of salt as they are prone to adjustments.
Bunkering is extensive on both nines, both flanking many of the fairways and protecting the greens, however the challenge of this course would seem to be finding the correct parts of the tricky, undulating putting surfaces to give yourself scoring chances. Water is in play on a number of holes as the course works its way around the lakes on the property, suggesting this is more of a positional course than one which can be simply overpowered.
Tournament Stats. We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s Danish Golf Championship that will help to shape a view on players who traditionally play well at this event.
As previously noted, we’re at a new course for the event so event history stats should be considered accordingly: Current Form | Tournament Form | First Round Leader Stats | Combined Current/Event Form Stats
Predictor Model. Our published Predictor Model is available here. As always you can build your own model using the variables available.
Winners & Prices. 2024: Frederic Lacroix, 33/1; 2023: Rasmus Hojgaard, 22/1; 2022: Oliver Wilson, 200/1; 2021: Bernd Wiesberger, 20/1; 2019: Bernd Wiesberger, 70/1; 2018: Matt Wallace, 40/1; 2017, Julian Suri: 60/1; 2016: Thomas Pieters: 12/1; 2015: David Horsey, 80/1; 2014: Marc Warren, 30/1.
Weather Forecast. The latest weather forecast for the area is here.
Largely sunny skies will greet the players this week with temperatures nudging towards 26 Centigrade/79 Fahrenheit on Thursday and Friday before dropping away just a little over the weekend. Any breeze there is will be generally light at 5-10mph.
Event Winners – Incoming Form: Marc Warren arrived in Denmark 11 years ago in decent form having finished 3rd at the Scottish Open, 39th at the Open Championship then a creditable 15th at the US PGA Championship. He’d been putting consistently well for a few weeks, ranking inside the top-20 for putts per GIR on each of his last 4 starts and found enough greens on the week in windy conditions to compile a winning score.
David Horsey’s form the year after was less obvious having recorded 4 top-20 finishes in the season, however he too had been putting reasonably well, recording 3 top-20 putting performances out of his most recent 4 cuts made.
Thomas Pieters was 2nd favourite for this title 9 years ago having arrived after finishes of 4th at The Olympics and 2nd the week before when defending in the Czech Republic and his chance was a fairly obvious one, whereas Julian Suri was still relatively under-the-radar as he was still playing predominantly on the Challenge Tour, however a runner-up finish in Portugal and 16th on his previous start – where he was 4th going into the final day – suggested that he wasn’t far away from winning at this kind of level.
Matt Wallace arrived in Denmark in 2018 following a disappointing 36th in the Czech Republic when chasing an unlikely Ryder Cup qualification. With his only remaining chance to win and impress an on-looking Thomas Bjorn, the Englishman did just that by birdieing 5 of his final 6 holes to make a 4-man play-off which he won with birdies at both the first and second extra hole. Wallace had already won the Indian Open and BMW International Open in the season.
For the first of his wins, Bernd Wiesberger arrived with some steadily improving overall form to his name, having started the 2019 season slowly. 23rd at the Indian Open contained some brief glimpses of improvement before a 68/68 weekend in China had registered his best finish of the year. A final round 76 on his last start at the British Masters masked his overall progression and 70/1 was the reward for those who sided with the Austrian. The Covid-delayed defence of his title in 2021 by the Austrian came off of fairly non-descript form.
Oliver Wilson’s win in 2022 came with a season’s best finish of 12th in Qatar 5 months prior, however there was at least a spark of form the previous week when firing a 2nd round 64 at Crans-sur-Sierre and taking just 109 putts over the course of the week:
Rasmus Hojgaard’s win at Himmerland in 2023 was frustrating for punters given that he’d withdrawn from the BMW International Open on his last start with a rib injury and that same ailment kept him out of the previous week’s British Masters too. The underlying form was undoubtedly there though with 3rd at the KLM Open 6 weeks before his best finish of the season to that point.
Finally, Frederic Lacroix grabbed his maiden DP World Tour title in this event 12 months ago, building on progressive form of 20th at the BMW International Open before the break for the Open Championship then 3rd at the Czech Masters the week before his success at Lübker Golf Resort:
2024: Frederic Lacroix: MC/50/65/21/MC/13/34/46/WD/MC/20/3
2023: Rasmus Hojgaard: 7/MC/38/20/6/16/MC/47/MC/3/50/WD
2022: Oliver Wilson: 42/MC/64/MC/MC/MC/70/MC/41/MC/33/44
2021: Bernd Wiesberger: 36/25/6/53/59/31/MC/42/MC/40/34/MC
2019: Bernd Wiesberger: MC/MC/51/42/MC/MC/MC/55/MC/23/14/70
2018: Matt Wallace: MC/3/20/51/MC/1/MC/MC/MC/MC/19/36
2017: Julian Suri: 31/1/3/23/11/MC/27/23/MC/16
2016: Thomas Pieters: 28/26/MC/27/16/29/30/86/4/2
2015: David Horsey: 42/15/MC/MC/38/11/MC/MC/66/33
2014: Marc Warren: 33/28/16/MC/29/MC/26/3/29/15
Event Form Of Winners: In terms of event form here in Denmark, Oliver Wilson and Matt Wallace both had some positive history and Bernd Wiesberger won at Himmerland either side of the Covid break, however aside from that there’s not a great deal of correlation:
2024: Frederic Lacroix: 62/35
2023: Rasmus Hojgaard: MC/MC/MC/22
2022: Oliver Wilson: 26/60/4
2021: Bernd Wiesberger: 1
2019: Bernd Wiesberger: Debut
2018: Matt Wallace: 6
2017: Julian Suri: Debut
2016: Thomas Pieters: 35
2015: David Horsey: 39
2014: Marc Warren: Debut
As per last week, we’re largely playing a guessing game with regards how this setup will play and which players it may favour. As with the previous Danish venues this isn’t a long course though and strategic play combined with accurate approach shots could prove to be the key ingredient.
