DP World Tour: Danish stars thrill HimmerLand crowds as McGowan leads

By Matt Smith
The Danish fans were holding out hope for a homegrown champion of the 2022 Made in HimmerLand in Farso.

A whole host of local players were lurking near the top of the leaderboard, with Rasmus Hojgaard and Marcus Helligkilde leading the charge just one shot back from Ross McGowan’s first-round lead.

Englishman McGowan finished with a flourish late in the day with an eagle on the eighth, his penultimate hole, followed by a closing birdie at the ninth to storm into the early lead on nine-under courtesy of a 62.

But the story of the day for the bustling crowds at HimmerLand was the collective performance of their beloved Danish stars — five of them placed within three strokes of the summit.

Hojgaard came agonisingly close to joining McGowan at the top as his lengthy birdie putt on the 18th came with inches of dropping, but an eight-under 63 left in a share of second place alongside compatriot Helligkilde, as well as Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson, England’s Matt Southgate and Justin Walters of South Africa.

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Four-time DP World Tour winner Soren Kjelden was a shot further back on seven under, while Niklas Norgaard Moller and Lucas Bjerregaard were among the bunch of players tied for 13th position on six-under.

“I felt like it’s been getting better the last few weeks but it’s nice to finally put a round together and hopefully I can keep it going for the next three days,” leader McGowan said.

Hojgaard added: “I’m happy about that, I played well today, holed a few good putts to keep the round going so I’m very happy to shoot eight-under.

“It’s amazing out there, you’re getting clapped every time you go on the green. I was smiling all day, I just enjoyed it. We were feeding off each other out there, Richard (Mansell) was playing really well and I felt like I had to step it up as well so it was nice to have all of us shoot a decent score.

“I recognised a lot of faces out there but I just tried to stay focused and not get too excited about the people in the crowd.”

Helligkilde agreed with his compatriot on the crowd: “Eight-under is always good and especially back home here in Denmark. I love this place at HimmerLand, such a great atmosphere here and I’m very pleased with the round today as well as the support on the course from all my friends.

“It’s unbelievable, I would say 90 per cent of the people on the course today, I know them. I’m not a superstar like the (Hojgaard) twins just yet, so it’s very nice to have people come out and cheer me on, I love it.”