Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort – host of the Made in Denmark Tournament – hopes to stage the 2020 event later in the year after it was called off because of the coronavirus outbreak

THE European Tour has cancelled two more events in the spring – but has raised the prospect of resuming its schedule in time for the Irish Open, at the end of May.

Both the Made in Denmark and the unique GolfSixes Casçais event in Portugal, have joined the growing list of events cancelled or postponed by the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said: “Discussions regarding the possible rescheduling of all postponed tournaments are ongoing and we remain hopeful of European Tour action resuming in Ireland at the end of May.

“We will continue to monitor this global situation in relation to coronavirus and evaluate its impact on all our tournaments, with public health and well-being our absolute priority. ”

The Irish Open is set to be played at Mount Juliet Estate over the Whitsun May Bank Holilda.

Defending champion Jon Rahm will be looking for a third victory in the Emerald Isle.

A strong field including Fedex Champion Rory McIlroy and Open Champion Shane Lowry. committed to play in Kilkenny, where 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell will be the tournament host in the new slot allowing McIlroy to fit it into his playing schedule.

Mount Juliet Estate already boasts a prestigious list of winners after a three-year stint of hosting the event – with Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Sam Torrance winning there in 1993, 1994 and 1995 respectively.

And McIlroy was hoping to join that list when he announced his return to play the Irish Open after skipping it last year after a four-year spell as the host.

The luxury five-star resort in Kilkenny also hosted the WGC-American Express Championship in 2002 and 2004 – won by Tiger Woods and Ernie Els respectively.

GolfSixes Casçais was scheduled to take place at Oitavos Dunes, near Lisbon, from May 9-10, while Made in Denmark – presented by Freja – was due to return to Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort, from May 21-24.

The event was due to be played from May 21-24 at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort

Made in Denmark promoter Flemming Astrup said: “We are very concerned about the current development of coronavirus and we believe the best decision is to postpone the event.

“We will now work closely with the European Tour to find a new date for Made in Denmark.

“It is still too early to say when, but both we and Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort are looking forward to present a fantastic course and tournament for players and fans – when we are on the better side of this unfortunate situation.”

The Made in Denmark has proved popular with interactive initiatives – including building a walkway between the 13th green and 14th tee throught a fans’ beer tent, playing loud music – giving the players a unique interaction on the European Tour.

The 2019 GolfSixes winners Thongchai Jaidee (left) and Phachara Khongwatmai, from Thailand at Oitavos Dunes, in Cascais in Portugal. Picture courtesy of EUROPEAN TOUR

GolfSixes format proved popular

AFTER the first two GolfSixes were held at the Centurion Club, at St Albans, the European Tour switched its place in the schedule to Casçais in 2019, where Thailand emerged as the winners.

GolfSixes is the short form of the game, increasingly popular with youngsters and the format sees 16 teams made up of pairs contesting over just holes with the team winning the most holes progressing via a four team round-robin league to the semi-finals and final.

Thongchai Jaidee and Phachara Khongwatmai beat England’s Tom Lewis and Paul Waring in the final.

Austrian Bernd Weisberger was due to defend his Made in Denmark crown at Himmerland in two months’ time.

The cancellation of the two events brings the total of events either cancelled or postponed on the Euorpean Tour schedule up to 10, starting with the Magical Kenya Open in March, through to the Made in Denmark.

That sequence includes the first two Majors of the season – the Masters has been postponed for the first time since 1945 – with the USPGA Championship along with Augusta National bosses looking for possible dates later in the year.

•On Wednesday, the European Challenge Tour anncouned the Challenge de España, which had been scheduled to take place from May 14-17, had been provisionally rescheduled for July 2-5.

The decision was made in consultation with the tournament promoter and the Spanish Golf Federation, in light of travel restrictions due to the threat from coronavirus COVID-19.

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Austria’s Bern Wiesberger added the Italian Open to his Made in Denmark and Scottish Open victories in 2019. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

BERND Wiesberger claimed his second Rolex Series title of 2019 and third European Tour victory of the season with a hard-fought victory in the Italian Open.

The Austrian started the day three shots behind overnight leader Matthew Fitzpatrick, but carded a bogey-free final round of 65 to finish one shot clear of the Yorkshireman on 16-under.

Wiesberger, who now has a realistic chance of ending the season as the European No. 1, said: “It’s been a great summer for me. I’ve had a lot of good golf shown and a lot of progress after coming back from the last year.

“I’ve won three times this year and it’s been the same every time, I’ve just really enjoyed my time and I’m positive to be back out there because I know how tough it was when I had to withdraw from these great events.

“I’ve played really well in the right events in Ireland and the Scottish and here this week which helps getting up there in the Race to Dubai. I feel excited about what is ahead of us in these last four events.”

Wiesberger posted three consecutive birdies from the fifth hole followed by a further gain on the ninth.

And he went to the top of the leaderboard when Fitzpatrick, who had birdied the second, hit it out of bounds on the ninth leading to a double bogey.

He looked comfortably in control on the back nine with birdies on the 14th and 16th holes.

But Fitzpatrick staged an impressive fightback with three birdies in his final six holes, however the former Ryder Cup player could not find another on the last as he came up one stroke short.

That meant Wiesberger became the fifth player to win multiple Rolex Series titles after his maiden win in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, in July.

Wiesberger joins John Rahm, Justin Rose, Alex Noren and Danny Willett as multiple Rolex Series winners.

The 34-year-old now leads the European Tour’s Race to Dubai with just six events remaining, having also won May’s Made in Denmark following seven months on the sidelines in 2018 due to a wrist injury.

Fitzpatrick signed for a round of 69 for a total of 15-under as he finished runner-up for the fourth time this season, having also come second in the Honma Hong Kong Open, the BMW International and the Scandinavian Invitation.

A disappointed Fitzpatrick said: “To lose by one is obviously very disappointing.

“I think I’ve played well when I’ve been up there on a Sunday, just other people really keep grinding and I keep coming up from behind.

“It is what it is. It’s still a great week, I’m here to win and not here to just make up the numbers.”

American Kurt Kitayama finished third on 12-under after a 71, a shot clear of Middlesex’s Andrew Johnston (68), Scot Robert MacIntyre (71) and another Austrian in Matthias Schwab (66), who shared fourth on 11-under.

Francesco Laporta posted a final round 68 to finish as the leading Italian player in a three-way share of seventh place.

•For the final results in the Italian Open click here.

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CALUM Hill picked up the second win in his last three starts by sealing a one-shot victory at the Made in Denmark Challenge.

The Scot began the final day in a five-way tie for the lead, but birdied his first two holes – and then continued to push further under par, playing the sort of game which has characterised the last month of his career.

In a run of form beginning at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, where the 24-year-old finished as the joint low-Scot, he has played four tournaments in a combined 67-under par, winning the Euram Bank Open.

Hill also finished tied-third at the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge, before triumphing this week in Skanderborg.

“I had a fantastic week up in Scotland with it being my first taste of a Rolex Series event,” said Hill, a Craigie Hill member, who hails from Kircaldy, and has been attached to Gleneagles since the spring, after signing for Edinburgh-based Bounce golf management firm last summer.

“Having a nice finish there just put a little cherry on top and gave me a little bit of confidence going forward.

“Then winning in Austria was a really big pick up and it got me feeling good. I didn’t get it done last week in Finland, but I’m very happy to have another good week here in Denmark.

“If you can keep having good weeks it makes a big difference,” added Hill, who won two pro events in the USA in 2017, after finishing his studies at the University of Western New Mexico.

Hill now finds himself second in the Challenge Tour Rankings, and in pursuit of a third win this season, which would see him immediately graduate to the European Tour under the three-win rule.

Hill said: “A third win would obviously be the best outcome if that were able to happen.

“If not I’ll carry on for the rest of the season and hope to stay in that top 15 and get a European Tour card for next year,” said the former

“But I’m very happy with how things have panned out and I can’t complain at all,” said Hill, who qualified for the US Open last year at Shinnecock Hills, making the cut before finishing 61st.

Joel Sjöholm carded rounds of 65, 69, 65 and 68 to finish alone in second. The Swede pushed Hill right to the end, making a brilliant up-and-down on the final hole to secure his position on 22-under, and force Hill to make an up-and-down of his own for the win.

Sjöholm’s runner-up finish was his second of the season, and moved him 30 places up the rankings into eighth.

The low-Dane honours at the Made in Denmark Challenge went to Benjamin Poke, who set the clubhouse target of 20-under and finished in a tie for third with Dutchman Daan Huizing.

Another notable performance from the Danish contingent came from 21-year-old amateur John Axelsen, who finished tied-fifth on 19-under.

The University of Florida student formed part of the Denmark’s first winning team at last year’s World Amateur Team Championships, playing with rising Challenge Tour stars Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard.

Hampshire’s Richard Bland, who shot a superb 61 on Friday, to jump to the top of the leaderboard, could only card a level-par 72 while Hoylake’s Matthew Jordan, who was also bidding for a second win of the season, shot 70 to finish fifth.

The Royal Liverpool member was one of five players to share the overnight lead alongside Hill and Sjoholm, Bland and Finland’s Roope Kakko, who dropped to 10th after a final round 71.

•The Challenge Tour will now travel to the innovative ISPS Handa World Invitational Men | Women, which is being presented by Nial Horan’s Modest! Golf Management company.

The ground-breaking event will mark the first time that men and women in Europe will compete in one tournament for equal prize funds.

It will take place at Galgorm Spa and Golf Resort, in Northern Ireland, from August 15-18.

Ironically, Hill won his first European Challenge Tour event in just his fifth start of his professional career, at Galgorm a year ago, when it hosted the Northern Ireland Open.

•For the full results of the Made in Denmark Challenge click here.

The post Hill dreams of automatic promotion to European Tour definitely Made in Denmark appeared first on Golf North.

ROYAL Liverpool’s Matthew Jordan’s breakout season continues as he takes a share of the lead into the final round of the Made in Denmark Challenge, on Saturday.

The 23-year-old, who is playing in his first season on the European Challenge Tour, has carded opening rounds of 65, 68 and 66 to sit in a five-way tie for the lead on 17-under par.

The former Walker Cup player began his campaign for a European Tour card on a high note, with a top 10 finish at the season-opening Turkish Airlines Challenge.

The Merseyside native passed up the chance to play a second Walker Cup at his home club in September by turning pro at the end of last year, having won the Lytham Trophy by nine strokes – he also won the 2017 St Andrews Links Trophy at the Home of Golf.

And Jordan announced himself to the golfing world in May by taking the first round lead at the Betfred British Masters at Hillside – just a sbort drive from where he grew up.

With wind in his sails, Jordan notched consecutive top 10s on the Challenge Tour in France and Spain, before capturing his first victory at the Italian Challenge Open Eneos Motor Oil, in June.

Currently occupying the third position on the rankings, a win tomorrow would go a long way towards cementing his European Tour card.

But Jordan – whose first big win as an amteur came at North Hants in the Hampshire Hog in 2016, acknowledged there is still much to be done at Ry Golfklub Silkeborg, where scoring has been low all week, and his game plan will remain unchanged.

“Within myself, I’m trying to play as aggressively as possible without being silly,” Jordan said. “Whether I’m last or first, to be honest I’m still going to do the same thing.

“It’s difficult because you know everyone is making birdies out here and because everyone is, you put pressure on yourself then to try and make birdies.

“I think that’s the actual challenge this week, is to try and stay patient and try to be aggressive. You’ve got to make birdies otherwise it feels like you’re going backwards.”

Sharing the lead with Jordan is Finland’s Roope Kakko, who was in front of the field for most of the day before a double-bogey on the 17th hole dropped him back to the field.

Despite the miscue, Kakko remains happy to be competing after being hospitalised only two weeks ago with reactive arthritis.

“I wasn’t too disappointed after 17 to be honest,” Kakko said. “These things happen. It’s a long tournament – there’s one round to go and you can’t get too down on yourself.

“I’m just happy to be playing tournament golf and to be tied for the lead. I’m just happy, and I’ve got a great opportunity tomorrow.”

The low round of the day, and of the tournament so far, was carded by Hampshire’s Richard Bland, who made 10 birdies and an eagle on his way to an 11-under par 61, which moved him up 51 places into a share of the lead.

The 46-year-old from Southampton is positioned ahead of Jordan in the money list, and a win could move him to the top spot.

Rounding out the five players who share the lead are Scotland’s Calum Hill, who has recorded a win and a tied-third place finish in his last two starts on the Challenge Tour – and Sweden’s Joel Sjöholm, another proven winner on at this level having won in 2017.

Much like its counterpart event on the European Tour, the Made in Denmark Challenge continues to break the mould.

This year in Skanderborg, the field has been cut to the top 45 professionals and ties for the last day, which fell at 10-under par.

Due to expected weather, the final round starting times have been moved up, and are set to begin at 7:30am local time, from both the first and 10th tees, with the last group of Sjöholm, Bland and Hill set to go at 8:50 am.

For live scoring click here

The post Nothing Bland about Jordan’s year – will his second win of season be Made in Denmark? appeared first on Golf North.

This week’s GolfSixes is the most innovative change to the European Tour’s schedule where every shot has a consequence. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

By European Tour Chief Executive KEITH PELLEY
AN interesting discussion developed at our headquarters the other day about whether our current stretch of European Tour events – Made in Denmark, the Belgian Knockout and this week’s GolfSixes Cascais – should form an official Innovation Swing.

It is debate not without merit. The golfing calendar is undoubtedly a crowded one, and with Majors either side of them, these three events each offer an alternative narrative.

Both the Belgian Knockout and GolfSixes appeal to a younger demographic through head-to-head action as well as shorter form golf – nine-hole battles in the former and six-hole contests in the latter – which ensures that each shot has a consequence in the outcome of the match.

GolfSixes also features male and female teams competing against each other, players wearing shorts and using distance measuring devices, as well as a shot clock which gives players a countdown to their stroke.

In contrast, on the surface, Made in Denmark could be viewed simply as ‘another 72-hole strokeplay event.’

But the reality is somewhat different because of the promoters’ unstinting commitment to innovation and originality.

Take the 14th  hole at Himmerland Golf and Spa Resort as an example.

What could easily have been a routine, 262-yard par four was transformed thanks to the introduction of the Heineken Lounge, where players walked from the 13th green through the hospitality area to the 14th tee box which was incorporated into the structure.

The result was a terrific atmosphere for the fans and the creation of some memorable content from many players, most notably Jamie Donaldson and Matthew Southgate.

It also created some clever brand exposure for Heineken.

It was one of a number of concepts introduced which put innovation at the heart of this tournament.

Other activations included the inaugural European eTour Championship – our first esports contest, which tapped into the 15 million plus people globally who play World Golf Tour (WGT) on their mobile devices.

The Made in Denmark’s 14th tee which players – including Lee Westwood (above) approached through a beer tent accompanied by loud music. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Such creativity undoubtedly helped distinguish Made in Denmark from the norm in a congested and competitive golfing landscape.

Last year, across all Tours, there were 395 tournaments globally which counted towards the Official World Golf Ranking.

Of these, 382 were strokeplay events and just 13 were classified as “other formats,” including the Belgian Knockout and the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth, which also features on our Race to Dubai.

While the biggest golfing events, such as the Ryder Cup, the Major Championships and our Rolex Series, continue to get bigger, the battle for regular events to cut through can be more complex and challenging – particularly when you factor in other sports and forms of entertainment which vie for the consumer’s attention.

This weekend, to name but a few, you have the conclusion of the French Open tennis, the start of the women’s football World Cup, the continuation of the Cricket World Cup, the Nations League Football Finals and of course, my personal favourite, the NBA Finals featuring the Toronto Raptors against the Golden State Warriors.

The prolificacy of consumer choice is why innovation is essential. Fail to innovate and you simply risk being left behind or crowded out.

Events such as GolfSixes strive to appeal to a different audience.

Last year’s event at the Centurion Club in England attracted a younger demographic on social media with more than 50 per cent of engagement from under 35s, while attendees were 20 per cent younger than the average age of spectators at regular European Tour events.

Furthermore, in the last two years numerous GolfSixes junior leagues have been launched across the UK and Europe, with girls forming more than 30 per cent of the participants to sign up.

As well as underpinning our creation of GolfSixes, innovation is one of our central pillars.

It drives our content, our use of technology and our introduction of different formats.

In a crowded marketplace, this positioning has resonance with our partners, our broadcasters, but also increasingly with how fans view the European Tour as a brand.

Perhaps the introduction of an official Innovation Swing is a good idea after all?

•What do you think about Keith Pelley’s ideas on an Innovation Swing on the European Tour? Leave your comments.

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