Lucas

Bjerregaard

The 30-year-old, two-time European Tour winner carded a 5-under 66 on Sunday at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course in Vilamoura to finish at 17-under 267, two strokes behind winner Thomas Pieters. Bjerregaard, who won the Portugal event in 2017, entered the week at 136th in the Race to Dubai rankings, with just two events remaining to get into the top 122 and maintain his playing privileges. His birdie-birdie finish moved him up to 100th in the rankings. “It’s never meant as much to me,” said an emotional Bjerregaard. “I haven’t felt comfortable all week, but I did what I came here to do, even though I didn’t feel like I’d played very well. That kind of sunk in with that putt on the last. This week I didn’t even have to say anything to my caddie but I could sense it was him and I against everyone.” On the season, the Dane has made 14 cuts in 25 starts with two top 10s. He’s listed in the field for this week’s penultimate European Tour event, the AVIV Dubai Championship, where he missed the cut in his only start in 2020.

The 29-year-old, nine-year European Tour veteran has had a rocky season to date and comes in off missed cuts in his previous two starts at the British Masters and Tenerife Open. Overall, Bjerregaard has made just three cuts in eight starts this season with his best finish coming at the Abu Dhabi Championship in January (T-41). His poor performance appears to be a carry-over from 2020, when he was a full PGA Tour member for the first time but made just one cut in 10 starts in the pandemic-altered season. Bjerregaard burst into the news in 2019 when, as the No. 50 seed, he took down Tiger Woods in the quarterfinals of the WGC-Match Play before falling to Matt Kuchar in the semis. In six previous appearances in Denmark, he’s made just three cuts with the best result being a solo sixth place in 2018. He shot 71-74 to miss the cut in 2019.

The first full season as a PGA TOUR card-carrying member hasn’t started how he would have liked. He is just 1-for-4 with a T45 at the Houston Open being the highlight. The 28-year-old Dane is a two-time Euro Tour winner who reached as high as 43rd in the OWGR as recent as last summer. He’s fallen to 91st in the world and it’s time to buy low if you think his long-time talent will win out by year’s end. This will be his debut at TPC Scottsdale.

The first-time member (not a rookie) arrives 1-for-3 on the season and off a missed cut by four at last week’s American Express (75-70-66). His lone top-10 finish in 20 career TOUR events is T4 at the 2019 WGC-Match Play in his match play debut, and has not recorded a top 10 anywhere in the world since (22 starts). The 28-year-old is a two-time winner on the European Tour in 165 events, most recently the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He went 9-for-15 last season on the PGA TOUR with five top 25s, earning Special Temporary Membership for the remainder of the campaign after a T21 at the Masters in his Masters debut.

The 28-year-old Dane has spent most of his pro career overseas on the Euro Tour but that ratio of starts on each tour will likely change a bit in 2020. Bjerregaard finished 4th at the 2019 WGC-Match Play in addition to trio of top 20s in other PGA TOUR events last season. He earned 394 Non-Member FedExCup Points which was good enough to earn a PGA TOUR card for the 2019-20 campaign. He arrives fresh from the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship where he finished T23 last week in his attempted title defense. Bjerregaard has two wins on the Euro Tour and his strong showings in WGCs and Majors suggest that he could pop up on a few leaderboards this season.

It’s been a rough few months for the Dane, who thrived in the early weeks of the year, collected top 25s at three majors, but has also missed a lot of weekends (eight of his last 11 in fact). His win came courtesy of rounds of 70-65-71-67 and were something of a surprise after he arrived with a tournament log of T32-MC-MC-MC. “I’ve not been playing well the last couple of months so hopefully some of the good memories can spark a little something in my game,” he said Tuesday. “It’s little things here and there, it’s not quite come together. It’s not far away and that’s what’s been frustrating. Becoming a father has helped me mature a lot as a person but also as a golfer. It’s nice to have the family around, they weren’t here last year but they’ve come here this year.”

Green Eagle has staged this event for the last two seasons with the Dane finishing MC in 2017 and T39 last year after a slow start (75 R1). But he also played it in his Challenge Tour days, taking T34 in the 2010 ECCO Tour Championship (T8 with 18 holes to go). Bjerregaard did a feature for europeantour.com earlier this week explaining that he has a new caddie and talking through the processes involved in choosing one (very detailed in his case). His first week with Sean Mcdonagh, who had three European Tour wins with Andy Sullivan, went well as the duo combined for T28 in the Omega European Masters. Bjerregaard has a previous top five in this event when it was staged at a different German venue in 2015 while we’ve seen him impress in elite tournaments throughout this season so the potential is there for a big performance.

The Dane has already made a serious impression in one World Golf Championships event this season after reaching the last four of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas. Bjerregaard has cashed just three times in ten starts since but, notably, they all came in big events: T21 at The Masters, T16 at the PGA Championship and T16 at Royal Portrush last week. That makes him an attractive cheap option in any elite tournament so he’s worth a look on his TPC Southwind debut.

The Dane has had some real highs this season, beating Tiger Woods on the way to a semi-final slot at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and adding tied 16th in the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. Bjerregaard accepted Special Temporary Membership for the remainder of the 2018-19 PGA TOUR Season after T21 at The Masters but, aside from the PGA, he’s missed the cut at the Byron Nelson, Canadian Open and U.S. Open. He also returned home for the Made In Denmark and crashed out early there. In terms of suitability for this week’s test there’s one obvious plus as he won last October’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. Prior to that his links form was poor and, in this event, he’s just 1-for-5 and has missed his last two cuts. That said, he did post T18 at Royal County Down so, overall, Bjerregaard is this week’s riddle wrapped up in an enigma candidate.

The Dane enjoyed a top 20 at the PGA Championship last week, but he couldn’t fathom the answer to his Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort conundrum. He’s now missed three cuts in five start there and lacks a top 25 finish. Other notables that will join him in getting the weekend off include: 144- Geroge Coetzee, Erik Van Rooyen ... 145- Thorbjorn Olesen ... 147- Stephen Gallacher ... 151- Soren Kjeldsen.