European Tour

Made in Denmark 2018

August 30 - September 02

Silkeborg Ry Golf Club, Silkeborg, Denmark

€1,500,000

August 30 - September 02

Silkeborg Ry Golf Club, Silkeborg, Denmark

€1,500,000

Round 1

Thomson leads as Ryder Cup sub-plot develops in Denmark

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

August 30, 2018

Jonathan Thomson shrugged off his poor early season form to storm into the first round lead at the Made in Denmark, where Ryder Cup hopefuls Thorbjørn Olesen, Matt Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperell endured mixed fortunes at this, the final qualifying event to gain an automatic place in Thomas Bjørn’s European Team to face the USA in Paris in four weeks’ time.

- Getty Images

“I have been playing well but not scoring. I had a good lesson on iron play in Prague last week and it has really tightened up my iron play and given me more opportunities to give myself more birdie chances. Last week I played fantastic and didn’t hole anything, whereas today I played to a similar level and holed some putts.

“It would be great for me to have a positive result this week. I had a terrible start to the season and really positive result would give me a huge confidence boost going into the rest of the season.”

Thomson stormed out of the blocks at the Silkeborg Ry Golf Club to card a fine eight under par opening effort of 64 to take a two shot lead over Matt Baldwin, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Lukas Bjerregaard, Josh Geary and Brett Rumford.

While Thomson was forging his way to the top of the leaderboard, the Ryder Cup subplot at the Made in Denmark began to develop in earnest.

Olesen made a fast start in his bid to retain the eighth and final automatic qualifying spot to Bjørn’s team. The 28 year old Dane needs to finish in a tie for seventh place with one other player or better to guarantee a Ryder Cup debut.

One under through three holes, Olesen looked to be in control but lost momentum and dropped four strokes before two birdies in his last three holes saved the round and saw the Dane finish on one over par.

The two men who can pass Olesen to qualify for the Ryder Cup Team – the English duo of Matt Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperel – both need to win this week. Pepperel, playing with Bjørn, matched the Ryder Cup Captain’s two under 70; while Fitzpatrick had to settle for a level par 72.

“The swing didn't feel at all good at times," said Pepperel, "I hit some very good shots, the back-to-back five woods (on the 11th and 12th) I'll probably remember for the rest of my life – I might have to retire that club after those two."

“He (Bjørn) has still got it, I enjoy watching Thomas whenever I get the opportunity to play with him and Martin (Kaymer). These guys I've watched on telly for years so I'm beyond the point of nerves playing with these guys and still in awe to a degree."

“It (the Ryder Cup) is probably more an inspiration, I wouldn't say a distraction. I'm still very focused on my game, I don't think it's affected my score today and I don't think it will affect my score moving forward, for the good or for the bad. I've still got to hit good golf shots. I've got to win this golf tournament so if I want to do that I've got to play better than I have done today, I've got to start to feel more comfortable with my swing and that's were all my focus is really lying. It's not really on my mind.”

Fitzpatrick was playing alongside Ryder Cup Vice Captain Robert Karlsson, a man who had reason to celebrate his first round in Denmark as he became the first Swedish player (and only the 11th player in history) to reach the landmark achievement of 600 European Tour appearances.