Rasmus Hojgaard is Ryder Cup bound but not without some tense moments.
“I’ve been so stressed out,” he said.
The 24-year-old Dane knew the job at hand on Sunday at the Belfry Resort & Hotel at Sutton Coldfield, England, and he delivered. Hojgaard shot a final-round 1-under 71 to finish T-13 at the Betfred British Masters.
“Every hole felt like a tough battle,” Hojgaard said. “I’m over the moon.”
Hojgaard entered the week in eighth place in the European Ryder Cup points race and the Betfred British Masters served as the final qualifying tournament before the top six in the standings would automatically make Team Europe. He needed to finish T-29 or better to leapfrog No. 7 Sepp Straka and No. 6 Shane Lowry and make his first team. Straka and Lowry opted to compete in the Tour Championship, where no Ryder Cup points were available.
Hojgaard looked as if he would be a slam dunk to get over the line after he made three birdies in a row beginning at the second hole. But he bogeyed the fifth hole and made three more bogeys in the next seven holes – against one birdie, a chip-in at the ninth – to hover precariously close to the cut-off line. Knowing that there was no guarantee he’d receive one of Luke Donald’s captain’s picks, Hojgaard told his caddie he didn’t know how he was going to be able to do it, but he righted the ship with a clutch birdie at 15 that calmed his nerves and avoided bogeys after No. 12.
“I knew every bogey was very costly. There were a couple times out there where I really had to calm myself and not let things spin out of control,” Hojgaard said.
Rasmus will be a Ryder Cup rookie, much like his twin brother Nicolai, who represented Team Europe in Rome in 2023. Nicolai was leading late in the British Masters only to be clipped by Alex Noren and finish T-2, but another strong finish next week and he could earn a captain’s pick.
Asked if that is the dream to play with his brother in the Ryder Cup, Rasmus said, “100 percent. It’s probably the biggest goal we have together. If it happened this year, it would be amazing.”
Donald will round out his 12-man team with six picks on Sept. 1.
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