Rasmus Højgaard delighted the home fans and boosted his Ryder Cup push by opening up a two-shot lead at the Danish Golf Championship on Friday.
Højgaard added a 7-under 64 to his opening 66 at Fureso Golf Club to take the lead at the halfway mark of his home tournament.
The 24-year-old Dane is currently eighth on Team Europe’s Ryder Cup points list, just outside the automatic top six spots, with Luke Donald making six captain picks after the Betfred British Masters on Aug. 24.
“You feed off each other a little bit,” Højgaard said of the Danish fans. “I was obviously feeling good out there. Trying to make as many birdies as possible, and with them cheering me on, I just wanted to keep it going for as long as possible.
“It died a little towards the end when I made that annoying bogey at 8, but it was a great atmosphere out there.”
Højgaard, who started at the 10th hole, began with six straight pars before backing up a birdie at the 16th with an eagle at the par-5 18th after hitting his approach shot to three feet.
A run of five birdies in the opening six holes on his back nine gave him breathing space at the top.
Højgaard’s solitary bogey at No. 8 cost him the outright course record, instead matching Marco Penge‘s first-round score Thursday.
“I didn’t try to do too much out there,” said Højgaard, who won this tournament in 2023. “I was just striking the ball well, had an idea of where it was going and set up a lot of chances.”
Penge is two shots back at 10 under after a 68 consisting of six birdies and three bogeys, while Canadian Aaron Cockerill sits in third, three strokes further back.
Adrien Saddier, Maximilian Steinlechner and Niklas Norgaard are in a group at 6 under.
Scotland’s Marc Warren fell down the leaderboard with a disappointing second-round 74 after his opening 66, five of his seven bogeys coming on the back nine, while Englishman Matt Wallace eagled the last for a 70 to make the cut at 1 under.
