ISPS Handa Championship 2022 Each-Way Tips: (Nicolai) Hojgaard can power his way to victory

Matt Cooper
18 April 2022
4:00 min read

Johannes Veerman earned his tour card at Lumine.

Join

View market

Twitter

Facebook

The DP World Tour is all set for the first ISPS Handa Championship in Spain and Matt Cooper has three selections with the Betfair Sportsbook paying seven places...

"In his last 14 starts alone he has missed eight cuts, but every other finish was top 20, four of them top four and two of those wins."
Nicolai Hojgaard 1pt each-way @ 26.025/1

Main Bet: Nicolai Hojgaard 1pt each-way @ 25/1

A return to action for the DP World Tour and it's nearly a month since Marcus Kinhult nearly landed this column a tasty victory before he settled for a share of third.

In the meantime, there has also been a similar near-miss in the shape of Shane Lowry's Augusta National adventure.

Now the circuit kicks off a summer of European action with a fortnight in Spain and there's a curious link between this week's venue and next's.

That connection relates to Qualifying School, the end-of-season slog that has disappeared in the Covid era.

Thursday's host, the Infinitum Golf Resort - previously known as Lumine - was a long -term host of the Qualifying School, first welcoming the second stage and more latterly the final stages.

Next week the circuit moves to PGA Catalunya which preceded Infinitum as the set for the agony and ecstasy of six rounds of card-chasing.

It is the Lakes Course at Infinitum which will host, a 6,983-yard track which will play to a yardage of 70 and, as such, is rather unusual in having no par-5s until very late in the round (the 16th and 18th).

It won't be much of an issue for the first two laps, but it will be something of an oddity at the weekend.

As hinted by the title, water is a significant threat, with lakes threatening on no less than 13 tee shots. It's a Greg Norman design, largely flat, and offers no great surprises - it's a resort course.

Visually, it first struck me as being rather like Al Hamra, host of two Ras al Khaimah events earlier this season and that bodes well for Nicolai Hojgaard who won the first of those events at a canter by four shots.

His brother Rasmus knows the place well, finishing fifth at the 2019 Q School and sixth in a third tier event the same year. Nicolai finished down the leaderboard on both occasions, but he was a little off the pace at the time and has now become very used to competing (and winning) at the top level.

There's absolutely no doubt that he's a boom or bust merchant. In his last last 14 starts alone he has missed eight cuts, but every other finish was top 20, four of them top four and two of those wins (including at Ras al Khaimah and also at Marco Simone which also has water hazards).

Spin it back to this time last year and he finished fourth at the Canary Island Championship - yet more golf much like this week.

He suffered a hangover in the second week at Al Hamra, missing the cut, and he's also missed three cuts on the PGA Tour since then. That's allowed his price to slip into the mid-20s and the clincher is not just the visuals of the test, but the yardage.

His success at Al Hamra was built on big, aggressive hitting and with eight par-4s at lass than 425-yards (and four of those below 400-yards) he could easily utilise that power again this week.

Next Best: Johannes Veerman 1pt each-way @ 50/1

Among those players with fond memories of Lumine are Daniel Gavins and David Law, who both won second stage events there, plus Zander Lombard, who shared the final stage win in 2018, Alejandro Canizares, who shared that win and was also fourth in 2019, and Ben Poke (won triumphed in 2019).

Column favourite Sebastian Soderberg also came close to selection, the consequence of a win and sixth on the third tier, but the compiler likes him too.

So, instead, second pick is the American Johannes Veerman, who closed the 2019 Final Stage with a pair of 66s to gain his card.

Since then he's established himself on circuit and played plenty of excellent golf on resort style courses with plenty of water.

He was eighth at Dom Pedro and fourth at Aphrodite Hills in late 2020, eighth at Marco Simone and a winner at Albatross in the Czech Masters.

He was also bang in-contention at the Ras al Khaimah Championship before a sloppy final round.

He could easily enjoy this test again.

golfer sihwan kim.jpg

Final Bet: Sihwan Kim 1pt each-way @ 50/1

Final pick is another player with good vibes from the 2019 Q School Final Stage and it's also a little hidden.

Because Sihwan Kim was struggling to land his card until he thrashed a final round 63 to bound up the field and into the top 20.

He's never established himself on the main tour, but he's also never been in better form than he is currently enjoying.

In his last seven starts he's finished fourth at the resort-style (and water protected) Sentosa in the Singapore Open, second in the Royal's Cup in Thailand (more resort, more water), won the International Series Thailand at Black Mountain (ditto), then finished 10th and won again in the Trust Golf Mixed Cup and Stableford Challenge (both at the Siam Country Club on a resort layout that is even called the Waterside Course).

All this came on the Asian Tour but, with those nice memories, it's enough for me and a golden opportunity for him.

* Having difficulty working out the place returns? Fret no more - you can easily work out your returns with our new each way calculator.