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The PGA Tour season may have ended, but the DP World Tour season hasn’t even reached the three-quarter mark with eleven events still to be played. This week is the Made in Himmerland event in Denmark before next week’s Rolex Series event at Wentworth and the start of qualification for the 2023 Ryder Cup. The event was originally called ‘Made in Denmark’ and has been a constant on the European from 2014, apart from the 2020 covid-affected season. six of the seven events have been held at this week’s venue, with Silkeborg Ry Golf Club hosting the event in 2018. The venue is the Backtee course at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort, which also hosted the 2018 Made in Denmark Challenge. The course is inland, but has a links-type feel with undulating fairways and greens, while the most commonly-used adjective is ‘exposed’. It can be extremely windy here, particularly on the back nine, and that adds to the links feel of the place. It is nature that is the course’s biggest defence not length. In fact, the official length of the course used for this event has declined over time, from just over 7,000 yards to 6,651 yards this year. There are typically five tees per holes so there can be a big difference between official and actual yardages, but the focus is clear. This is a short course that has limited defences when the winds are calm. Given that the forecast is for winds of only 10-15mph throughout the week, and particularly calm on Thursday and Friday, this should be a low-scoring event. The following three angles are offered to identify players who should contend this week. Angles to consider: 1. Course form matters at Himmerland Looking at only the winners can lead to the conclusion that course form is not important here. Bernd Wiesberger (2019) and Julien Suri (2017) won on their course debut, while the 2015 and 2016 winners had previously only finished in the mid-30s here. However, Wiesberger won this event last year to make it two wins in two visits and none of the top-10 (14 players) were making their debut on this course. While Wiesberger was making his debut in 2019, only one other player in the top-10 (11 players) was also making their course debut. And in 2017, while Suri was making his debut, the runner-up, David Horsey, had won the previous year;. It was a similar story in 2016 with the runner-up, Bradley Dredge, having finished 6th and 2nd in the previous two Made in Denmark events, while 3rd-place finisher, David Lipsky, had finished in the top-15 in both previous events.. 2. Strokes gained: approach the green and tee to green will be important Given the shortness of the course, ball control is always going to be an important feature and this is traditionally shown by greens in regulation stats. The stats of the winners have been generally supportive for this trend, but not definitive. However, that is not the case with the strokes gained stats which have been available for the 2019 and 2021 editions. When Wiesberger won last year, he ranked 3rd and 1st, respectively, for strokes gained: approach the green and strokes gained: tee to green. When he won in 2019, he ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively, for strokes gained: approach the green and strokes gained: tee to green 3. The short game is tested around Himmerland The 2012 renovations to this course, particularly to the bunkers and greens, made these features a real test of short game skill. It was Wiesberger’s tee-to-green game that brought him success here in 2021 and 2019, but in the former there were two players ranked inside the top-5 for scrambling and on the top-5 on the leaderboard, while in the latter, the other two players in the top-3 both ranked inside the top-3 for scrambling that week. There are no playing stats for Julian Suri in 2017, but Ben Evans and Chris Paisley ranked joint-1st for scrambling and both finished 3rd. In 2016, Thomas Pieters won and ranked 5th for scrambling while everyone else in the top-4 all ranked inside the top-6 for scrambling Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players has been selected. Rory Sabbatini
Sticking with Sabbatini given that his odds have risen following his missed cut last week. That was due to an opening 76; he shot 66 in the second round to confirm the form that saw him finish 13th the previous week in the Czech Masters. He ranked inside the top-10 for strokes gained: approach the green that week and his suitability for this course is reinforced by his ranking 16th of strokes gained: around the green on the PGA Tour. He is making his debut here, but he has the right game profile to be competitive at Himmerland. Marcus Armitage
Armitage’s game profile fits perfectly with this course. He ranks 2nd in strokes gained: approach-to-green, 12th in strokes gained: tee-to-green and 11th in greens in regulation on the DP World Tour this season. He finished in the top-10 here last year and is in good form, coming off a top-10 finish in the Cazoo Open last month Masahiro Kawamura
Kawamura’s form is also good – he finished in the top-10 last week at Crans-sur-Sierre, having finished 14th in his previous start. He finished in the top-20 here last year, and had been inside the top-5 after 36 and 54 holes. He is particularly noted for his accuracy off the tee and his short game: he ranks inside the top-10 for driving accuracy and top-20 for scrambling on the DP World Tour this season. Tips 0-3; -6.00pts 1pt e.w. Rory Sabbatini 75/1 (Skybet 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7) 41st 1pt e.w. Marcus Armitage 45/1 (William Hill 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) mc 1pt e.w. Masahiro Kawamura 66/1 (Betfred 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7) 22nd
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