Rasmus Højgaard leads by two strokes at the halfway point of the Danish Golf Championship as he bids to win on home soil for the second time in his young career.
The 24-year-old, who became the first Danish winner of this event in 2023 at HimmerLand, carded a seven under par round of 65 at Furesø Golf Klub to move two clear of overnight leader Marco Penge, signing for a 12 under par total after 36 holes.
Starting from the tenth, Højgaard parred his opening six holes before finishing his front nine birdie, par, eagle to make the turn three under. He then rolled in four consecutive birdies from the first and added another at the par five sixth hole before dropping a shot on the eighth to cover his back nine in just 31 strokes.
Højgaard also sits in eighth place on the European Ryder Cup Rankings, just outside the top six automatic qualifiers, which will be finalised after the conclusion of next week’s Betfred British Masters. European Captain Luke Donald will then select his six remaining players on Monday September 1.
Penge, who carded an opening round 64, made ground as he signed for a three under par round of 68 to reach double figures on ten under.
Canadian Aaron Cockerill sits in third place alone on seven under after a two under par round of 69. Niklas Nørgaard, who will defend his first DP World Tour title at the British Masters, is the next best-placed Dane in a share of fourth on six under alongside Frenchman Adrian Saddier, who won the Italian Open in June, and Maximilian Steinlechner of Austria, who won his first HotelPlanner Tour title last month on home soil.
Player Quotes
Rasmus Højgaard: “I’ve had two great days so I am looking forward to what the weekend brings.
“To be honest, I didn’t feel like I was attacking that much. I was putting the ball in play off the tee. Hitting the middle of the green for the most part of the round. Towards the end of the first nine I made a birdie and an eagle and that sort of somewhat got the round going. After that I made quite a few birdies. I didn’t try to do too much out there. I was just striking the ball well, had an idea of where it was going and set up a lot of chances.
“You look at ten, 11, 12 and try not to do too much damage to yourself. If you are one over par on those holes that is not bad at all if you look at the scoring average for those holes. When you get to 13, you can start setting up some good chances and I managed to finish the first nine holes on a good note.”
Marco Penge: “I feel like it was a good day. This afternoon the wind got up and it was pretty swirly. It’s quite a tee-lined course. The forecast said it was going to stay on the same wind, but it was switching around. Me and my caddie did a really good job and we’re pretty happy with it.
“Everyone playing, watching can see how tough the start of the back nine is. The tenth hole played over five scoring average yesterday and it’s a par four. A lot of trouble about and it’s just a matter of trying to avoid it really.”
About the DP World Tour
The DP World Tour is the main men’s professional golf tour of the European Tour group.
As golf’s global tour, we showcase global talent in global destinations and use our platform to build, entertain and connect our global community.
GLOBAL TALENT: We provide pathways and a platform for the leading international talent, bringing together golfing icons, national heroes and emerging stars from around the world.
GLOBAL DESTINATIONS: We stage tournaments in iconic cities and locations around the world and each week we celebrate and showcase the rich diversity of the courses, cities and cultures we visit.
GLOBAL COMMUNITY: We build, entertain and connect communities through our commitment to innovation, creative content and having a positive social and environmental impact.
Our 2025 Global Schedule features 42 tournaments in 26 different countries and comprises three distinct phases: five ‘Global Swings’, the ‘Back 9’ and the ‘DP World Tour Play-Offs’. It features five Rolex Series events – the premium category of events on the DP World Tour – and four Major Championships, all of which count towards the Race to Dubai Rankings, the Tour’s season-long competition which concludes at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
DP World, the leading provider of global smart end-to-end supply chain and logistics solutions, has been the title partner of the DP World Tour since the start of the 2022 season, the Tour’s 50th season following its formation in 1972.
We also enjoy the support of many of the world’s leading business brands with DP World, Rolex, Aldar, BMW, Buffalo Trace Distillery, Emirates, Fortinet and Vestas as Official Partners.
About the European Tour group
The European Tour group administers the DP World Tour, the HotelPlanner Tour, the Legends Tour and the G4D Tour and, as the Managing Partner of Ryder Cup Europe LLP, stages golf’s greatest team contest, the Ryder Cup, in partnership with the PGA of America.
The European Tour group has Strategic Partnerships with the PGA TOUR, the Sunshine Tour, the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, the China Golf Association (CGA), the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO), the Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA), and the TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India. These partnerships provide global pathways for players from across the world to compete internationally on the DP World Tour, the main men’s professional golf Tour of the European Tour group which was established in 1972, as well as the HotelPlanner Tour.
