The conveyor belt of Danish players on to the DP World Tour continues, and 25-year-old Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen has wasted little time in availing of his new status by securing a place in the field for the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down.
His win in the Big Green Egg Challenge in Germany on the Challenge Tour was Neergaard-Petersen’s third of the season on the circuit which automatically earned him a full tour card on the main tour. He became the first player since Aaron Rai in 2017 to achieve the feat.
“My goal at the start of the season was to finish in the top 20 but I could never have imagined my season would go the way it did. It’s been an awesome year and the Challenge Tour has been a great learning ground for me and I’ve developed a lot as a professional golfer,” said Neergaard-Petersen, who increased his lead at the top of the Race to Mallorca standings but who can now remap his itinerary going forward to play on the DP World Tour.
He added: “The Challenge Tour is such a good platform for us to get on to the DP World Tour. You see how successful the graduates have been down the years and that gives me a huge amount of confidence.”
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Johnson’s big step on comeback trail
Comeback story of the year? That would be Andrew “Beef” Johnston who – after playing only one tournament in a two-year stretch plagued by injury – has made a giant leap up the rankings on the back of a rich vein of form.
Johnston’s injuries – a thumb issue which required surgery and then back problems – saw him miss virtually the entire 2022 and 2023 seasons and return this season playing on a “membership extension”.
His third-placed finish behind Matt Wallace in the Omega European Masters in Crans-Sur-Sierre was Johnston’s best finish and came on the back of a top-20 in the British Masters. Ranked 2,055th in the world as recently as June, the Englishman – who is in the field for this week’s Amgen Irish Open – has moved up to 398th and with momentum headed to Royal County Down.
“There’s a lot of relief. It’s been a tough couple of years,” admitted Johnston, a past Spanish Open champion, of his comeback.
By the Numbers: 556
Former US PGA Champion Jimmy Walker plays only sparingly these days but is in the field for the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down, competing on a sponsor’s invitation.
Walker, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who won the Wanamaker Trophy in 2016, has played just seven times this season and made only one cut, finishing tied-50th in the Corales Puntacana Championship. Once ranked 10th in the official world rankings, Walker – who revealed in 2017 that he was suffering from Lyme disease – has fallen to 556th in the latest rankings.
Word of Mouth
“Drives the ball straight and long. Hits a lot of good iron shots. Does everything well. Chips it well, putts it pretty good. Not really a weakness in his game right now” – Bernhard Langer paying tribute to YE Yang who beat him in a playoff in the Ascension Charity Classic on the Champions Tour. It was Yang’s first win on the circuit, and denied Langer – at the age of 67 – a 47th success on the seniors tour.
On this day: September 10th, 2000
It has been described as the “greatest shot ever hit” which, in the world of Tiger Woods, is the sort of hyperbolic language that was part of his mystic.
Yet, for many, it was the greatest.
It came on the 18th hole of the final round of the Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Ontario where Woods – after hitting his drive into a fairway bunker – ignored the logical option of pitching back out to the fairway and, instead, opted to go for the green.
The 6-iron shot from 218 yards, with a carry completely over water, was one which Woods executed with precision and aplomb.
“I certainly got the required yardage should Tiger decide to lay up, but knowing how he thinks, there was no doubt in my mind he was going to try and knock it on the green,” recalled his caddie Steve Williams.
Woods closed with a birdie on the Par 5 for a finishing round of 65 for a total of 22-under-par 266, which gave him a one stroke winning margin over Grant Waite. It was Woods’s ninth win on the PGA Tour that year.
X-Twitter Twaddle
If you know someone that can help with a lost luggage that works at Dublin Airport can you please send me a DM? My golf clubs haven’t loaded on the flight and I need them asap. I promise you’ll be rewarded properly! – Edoardo Molinari, yet another golfing victim of lost clubs in transit. The Italian is playing in the Irish Open.
Thank you @omegaEUmasters for an amazing, unforgettable week. It’s a dream to win here. One of the most iconic courses and tournaments in the world. Great battle with Alfredo and Beef. Thank you to all my partners and everyone pulling for me – Matt Wallace on ending a six-year drought since his last win in claiming the Omega European Masters.
V good of @padraig_h to drop into @StackstownGC yesterday evening to meet and chat with all the DIGA competitors in advance of the Tri-Nations #golf4all – Ireland golfer Paul Kelly, of the Disabled and Inclusive Golf Association tipping the cap to Pádraig Harrington for his insights and assistance.
Know the Rules
Q A player plays their second shot, searches for the ball briefly and then goes back and drops another ball under penalty of stroke and distance. Before the player can play the dropped ball, the player’s original ball is found within three minutes of when the player first started searching for it. What is the ruling?
A The player must continue with the dropped ball. Rule 18.1 – once the player put another ball in play under penalty of stroke and distance, the original ball is no longer in play and must not be played.
In the Bag
Matt Wallace – Omega European Masters
Driver – Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees)
3-wood – Callaway Rogue ST Max (15 degrees)
Hybrid – Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Irons – Callaway Apex X Forged CB (4-PW)
Wedges – Titleist Vokey Design SMO (50 and 54 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design Wedgeworks Proto (60 degrees)
Putter – Scotty Cameron Prototype
Ball – Titleist ProV1x
