The Road to Mallorca returns this week, with Odense Eventyr Golf playing host to the Danish Golf Challenge. Here’s everything you need to know…
A fairytale return to Odense
The Challenge Tour returns to Odense Eventyr Golf for the second time this century, after the venue played host to the 2000 Danish Open. Home to one of Denmark’s best-rated championship courses, it has also hosted international events including the European Amateur Championship and the Nykredit Masters on the Ladies European Tour.
The course is comprised of three nines – the Nord (North), Vest (West) and Syd (South) courses – of open parkland golf set on an undulating terrain and at just over 7,000 yards, should offer plenty of birdie opportunities to both longer and shorter hitters alike.
The word ‘Eventyr’ means ‘fairy tale’ and each hole is named after a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, who was born in Odense. However, with manmade and natural water features coming into play on many holes, the course can quickly become a nightmare for players who are errant off the tee and with their approaches.
The Field
The field for the Danish Golf Challenge will be packed with local talent, led by Road to Mallorca Number One Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. He has won twice already on the Challenge Tour this year and will be chasing a third victory in five weeks that would see him earn automatic promotion to the DP World Tour.
Flying the Danish flag alongside Neergaard-Petersen will be Nicolai Kristensen, who enters the week ranked 15th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, and Hamish Brown, who sits just outside the top 30.
Joining them for his first Challenge Tour event of the season will be Swede Christofer Rahm, who last week picked up his third win on the Nordic Golf League this season to earn automatic promotion to the Challenge Tour for the remainder of the 2024 Road to Mallorca.
Several DP World Tour winners are also teeing it up in Odense this week, including Englishmen David Horsey and Chris Wood, and Dane Lucas Bjerregaard.
Road to Mallorca Rankings beginning to take shape
The Road to Mallorca returns following a week off, with the season-long Rankings now beginning to take shape.
Neergaard-Petersen holds a commanding 450-point lead after his strong run of form, with Alex Levy’s four top ten finishes good enough for second place. Joel Moscatel’s victory in Seville catapulted him into third position, while Challenge de España runner-up, Tapio Pulkkanen from Finland, climbs to tenth.
The remainder of the top ten is made up of players who have won this year, including Swedes Mikael Lindberg and Björn Åkesson, Englishmen John Parry and Garrick Porteous, Welshman Rhys Enoch, and Frenchman David Ravetto.