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Sensational scramblers set to shine
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Doha form well worth considering
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Concentrate on the pacesetter in-play
Tournament History
Previously called the Made in Denmark, the Made in HimmerLand was played at Thomas Bjorn's home course of Silkeborg Ry Golfklub in 2018, but that looks like a one-off now, as once again, as was the case in 2019, 2020, and 2022, we're returning to the Backtee New Course at the HimmerLand Golf and Spa Resort for the ninth edition of the tournament. The 2021 edition was lost to the pandemic.
The tournament has been shuffled forward in the schedule this year as it was played at the start of September in 2022.
Venue
Backtee New Course, HimmerLand Golf and Spa Resort, Aalborg, Denmark.
Course Details
Par 71, 6,686 yards
Stroke Index in 2021 - 70.24
In addition to seven of the first eight editions of this event, HimmerLand Golf and Spa also hosted the 1995 HimmerLand Open which was won by Denmark's most famous golfer, Thomas Bjorn. It also hosted three Challenge Tour events in the 1990s and the 2018 edition of the Made in Denmark Challenge on the Challenge Tour - won convincingly by J.B Hansen by five strokes.
Prior to the inaugural edition of this event, the course underwent a $2.5 million renovation by Philip Christian Spogard of Spogard and VanderVaart in 2012, which included the relaying of all 18 greens and the reshaping of every single bunker and there was a change to the course layout prior to the 2019 edition of this event too.
The old par four eighth hole is no longer in use and was replaced by a brand-new hole which was played as the first, resulting in holes one to seven in 2017 now being played as holes two to eight.
The course is very exposed (especially holes 11-15) and undulating, even the bentgrass greens, which are usually set to around at 10.5 on the stimpmeter.
With its two-tier green, the par three 16th signature hole is a natural amphitheatre for up to 3,500 spectators. It became the shortest hole in DP World Tour history eight years ago when it was set up at just 79 yards in round four.
TV Coverage
Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 12:00 on Thursday
First Eight Winners with Exchange Prices
2022 - Oliver Wilson -21 320.0319/1
2021 - Bernd Wiesberger -21 27.026/1
2020 - Event Cancelled
2019 - Bernd Wiesberger -14 120.0119/1
2018 - Matt Wallace -19 38.037/1 (playoff) (Silkeborg Ry Golfklub)
2017 - Julian Suri -19 80.079/1
2016 - Thomas Pieters -17 14.013/1
2015 - David Horsey -13 120.0119/1
2014 - Marc Warren -9 28.027/1
What Will it Take to Win?
We only have seven editions here to evaluate and frustratingly, no stats were issued for the winner here six years ago, Julian Suri, but an examination of what stats we do have for those seven renewals suggest putting and scrambling are the stats to consider.
Last year's winner, Oliver Wilson, ranked third for Putting Average and ninth for Strokes Gained Putting, and the runner-up, Ewan Ferguson, ranked first for Scrambling (as well as first for Greens In Regulation).
Bernd Wiesberger ranked seventh for PA in 2021 and the runner-up, Guido Migliozzi, ranked six. Wiesberger topped the PA stats when he won here for the first time in 2019 and the 2018 winner at Silkeborg, Matt Wallace, topped the PA stats here when he finished tied for sixth in 2017. Ben Evans, who finished third, ranked third.
The first two home in the inaugural staging in 2014 had PA rankings of third and first for the week and the first and second in 2016 - Thomas Pieters and Bradley Dredge - ranked second and first for PA so putting looks to be the most important aspect of the game to consider. And just to endorse that further, nobody putted better than Terry Pilkadaris, who finished tied for second in 2015, and the winner, David Horsey, ranked 10th.
Having putted brilliantly and having ranked as highly as eighth for Greens In Regulation, Wiesberger was able to win with a Scambling ranking of just 52nd in 2019 and he only ranked 29th in 2021 but two of the three players to finish tied for third, Jason Scrivener and Richard Bland, ranked third and fourth.
The number one scrambler for the week has finished inside the top-six places in each of the other six renewals played here so that's most definitely a stat to consider.
Is There an Angle In?
There's a fairly strong correlation with this event and the Austrian Open at the Diamond Country Club, with as many as three players - Mikael Lundberg, Bernd Wiesberger, and Marc Warren - winning at both venues.
Jose Manuel Lara, who won the first edition of the Austrian Open at the DCC in 2010, finished fourth in the Navision Open on the Challenge Tour here way back in 1998 and Marcus Armitage and Matthias Schwab finished inside the top-eight at both this event and the Austrian Open in 2021.
There's plenty of evidence to suggest this venue also corelates nicely with the Golf Du Palais Royal, which hosted the Trophee Hassan II between 2011 and 2015, but that's old form now and arguably not of much use so we may be better off focusing on form at another venue that appears to correlate that's been used more recently - Doha Golf Club in Qatar...
Wilson finished second at the Qatar Masters back in 2019 at Doha and the man he beat here in September, Ewen Ferguson, won there last year.
The two-time winner here, Wiesberger, led the 2015 edition of the Qatar Masters through 54 holes before finishing third and Matthew Jordan, who finished tied for fourth in this event last year, led the Qatar Masters after 54 holes a few months earlier.
HimmerLand isn't quite as open as Doha but it's also an exposed track and it was quite noticeable how many fine links exponents contended last year.
Is There an Identikit Winner?
Denmark's climate isn't too dissimilar to that endured year after year by the Brits so it's perhaps not surprising that and Englishman and a Scotsman fought out the finish last year and someone from the British Isles finished first or second in each of the first six editions.
An Austrian and an Italian filled the first two places in 2021 but Englishmen, Richard Bland and Jordan Smith, finished tied for third alongside Jason Scrivener.
Winner's Position & Exchange Price Pre-Round 4
2022 - Oliver Wilson - tied for the lead 8.415/2
2021 - Bernd Wiesberger - led by a stroke 2.186/5
2020 - Event Cancelled
2019 - Bernd Wiesberger - led by a stroke 2.9215/8
2018 - Matt Wallace 5th - trailing by two 4.84/1
2017 - Julian Suri 2nd - trailing by two 7.06/1
2016 - Thomas Pieters T2nd - trailing by one 3.711/4
2015 - David Horsey - led by a stroke 2.1011/10
2014 - Marc Warren - tied for the lead 2.3211/8
In-Play Tactics
Eventual winner, Marc Warren, trailed Bradley Dredge by fully seven strokes at the halfway stage in the inaugural event in 2014 but they were level after round three. The Welshman had led by four after two rounds and having such a big lead probably wasn't ideal given he hadn't been in-contention for a very long time.
Despite the nature of Warren's win, I made a note at the time that I thought the course would suit frontrunners after that first edition and that's largely been the case since.
Wilson trailed by four strokes after rounds one and two but he was tied for the lead after three rounds and Wiesberger won wire-to-wire in 2021, as did David Horsey in 2015, despite a two-over-par 73 in round four.
Thomas Pieters was never outside the front three places at any stage in 2016, and the first five home were all inside the top-seven places at halfway.
Although he was only tied for 17th after the opening round, Suri never trailed by more than three strokes all week long and Wiesberger was two off the lead after round one, three back at halfway and in front after three rounds in 2019.
All seven DP World Tour course winners have sat first or second with a round to go.
Hansen led after day one on the Challenge Tour in 2018 and he was three strokes clear with a round to go after bouncing back following a poor second round.
The par four finishing hole is tricky so if you're betting in-running on Sunday, bear that in mind. Anyone in the clubhouse will have an advantage over anyone still to play the 18th. David Horsey was just a shot behind Suri through 71 holes in 2017 but he was beaten by four after making a triple-bogey seven there.
The draw for the first two rounds may prove vital so keep an eye on the forecasts. There was a disparity of almost two strokes in 2016 and 2.98 strokes in 2017. Those drawn PM-AM enjoyed the advantage seven years ago but it was the other way around in 2017.
The PM-AM starters have averaged almost a stroke less in each of the last two editions.
Market Leaders
Thorbjorn Olesen has been backed down to favouritism and I'm not surprised.
The 33-year-old Dane has form at all the right correlating courses, and he was seventh here on debut back in 2014.
He's been a bit disappointing at the venue since, missing three cuts and producing only one top-20 (T14) in six subsequent visits but after a reasonable title defence at the Belfry last week, where he finished tied for 15th, he looks primed for a decent week in his homeland.
The ridiculously consistent Swede, Alex Bjork, who's in search of his sixth top-ten finish in seven DP World Tour starts, is next best and with course form figures reading 31-25-6-18 it's hard to see him not contending but he's not one to go to war with given his sole success, at the China Open, was five years ago.
Nicolai Hojgaard returns to the DP World Tour for the first time since finishing fifth at the Italian Open in May following five largely disappointing efforts on the PGA Tour.
Hojgaard finished 50th at the US PGA Championship and he was 21st at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week but he missed his three cuts in between. With course form figures reading MC-MC-40-MC, he's very easy to dismiss.
Selections
Although he's a little shorter than I'd have ideally liked, I can't leave out one of Matt Cooper's each-way selections, Ewen Ferguson, who played very nicely last week at the belfry, where he finished tied for fourth, despite playing his first four holes in four-over-par! And he would have finished tied for second had he not gone for his birdie putt at the 72nd hole quite so hard.
Knowing he needed a three to draw alongside the clubhouse leader, Ferguson was never leaving his birdie putt short, and he strikes me as the sort to go for titles over place money.
The 26-year-old Glaswegian did absolutely nothing wrong in-the-mix here last year and with course and current form, I couldn't let him go unbacked.
At the time of writing, Matthew Jordan is leading the Open Championship Qualifier at West Lancashire and while I'm not convinced two rounds today is a big plus before Thursday's start in Denmark, he'll be over the moon if he qualifies at his home course - Hoylake - and I'm happy to chance him modestly at 65.064/1.
Jordan was fourth here last year and given he's led through three rounds at both the Qatar Masters and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, he looks an ideal candidate and this could be the week the stars align for his first DP World Tour title.
*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter