Made In Denmark

Last week I played my first pro event, it was on the European Tour at the Danish event Made in Denmark. I qualified into the tournament through a Ecco tour, by finishing 3rd. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to start my pro career and to make things better it was really close to my home in Denmark. I played in the event last years as an amateur last year, where I unfortunately missed the cut, but it gave me great experience and made me prepare better for this year’s tournament.

I arrived on the grounds Monday morning for my first practice round; I played 18 holes with my friend Rasmus Hjelm who also played in the tournament. It was a productive day where I made a plan for how to play the course and which spots I could miss it in and where I was going to be “dead”. Tuesday was a shorter day where I played 9 holes and got a lot of short game practice in. The first two days it was hard to hit balls on the range because the wind was so strong that it would do more harm than good to practice the long game. Wednesday was the day where I could focus on my long game, the wind had calmed down a little bit and I couldn’t play on the course because of the pro-am tournament, which I was not a part of.

 

I had a late tee time Thursday of number 10. There were a lot of people when I got onto the tee box; I was mentally ready for task and just exited to get started. My first show was perfect, right at the pin 9 feet long. Played very well all day besides one hole, the 17th where I made a very unfortunate triple bogie. I finished the first round even for the day. It was a similar situation in the second round, played very well, but just didn’t score. I was 1 under going into the 18th hole and I hit the bunker on the left side of the fairway and had a very difficult shot over water to get onto the green. I thought I needed to make at least par on the hole to make the cut, so I made the decision to go for it, even know the lie in the bunker was not great. Off course I didn’t make it over the water and had to take a drop. I dropped it at 84 meters and hit a perfect 60 degree, I almost made it, I was a tap in for bogie, it was only my second hole over par for the tournament, which showed that I was really steady. I ended up making the cut on the number, which was very exiting.

 

The final two rounds had a lot of very good play, but again I didn’t manage to score as well as I would have liked, but I learned a lot because I saw my playing partners play and they played “bad” and scored well, which showed me where I need to improve to get to the next level. It was crazy to play in front of the Danish crowed the four days and especially the last two days, there were so many people out supporting us. The 16th hole is the famous one where thousands of people are sitting around the green; it is a very short hole. The final day it only played 75 meters, but the feeling you get walking up the hill and onto the green is one of the best feelings I have ever had on a golf course. I was speechless. I made a birdie on the hole Sunday and people went completely crazy. It was one of the coolest moments I have ever had on a golf course. 

 

I am flying back to the U.S. on the 25th and will start playing tournaments in September, so the next few weeks will be practice, practice and more practice so I will be ready for what’s to come. 

 

I will come back with another blog after my next tournament. In the mean time check out my page on Facebook where I will post things from my practice and other golf related things.

 

Have a great day y’all. 

 

Best, Martin