Andreas Hartø will enter this week’s Made in Denmark Challenge as one of the great hopes for a home victory, and the three-time European Challenge Tour winner cannot wait to get going in what he considers as the ‘Major’ of his 2015 season.
The 26 year old returns to his home city for the tournament’s inaugural edition, at Royal Golf Club in Copenhagen, an event stemming from the Made in Denmark, which made a huge impression on The European Tour last year.
It boasts a strong field of some of the most promising young players in Europe and beyond, including a host of talented Danes.
Hartø returns home following his best performance of the season at the Turkish Airlines Challenge last week, where he was tied eighth, and he is hoping the home fans can drive him on to victory.
“I’ve probably played that course 20 or 30 times over the last couple years so I know it pretty well,” he said. “It’s not too far from where I live.
“I’m 20 minutes away so there’s no reason to stay in a hotel, which is nice for a change. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve done that. I normally play four weeks in a row and this is going to feel like half a week I guess, because even though it’s a tournament week, I’m not leaving home and going to the airport and going away, which is the tough part about playing golf.
“I’d like to think that I thrive when I’m playing at home in front of friends. It might be tougher to focus completely on golf,but I think that’s actually good for me, when I have my mind off the golf a little and I’m more relaxed.
“I’ve never won in Denmark and it would be great to do that. For every single Dane it is going to be like our Challenge Tour Major and obviously we want to do as well as we can at home. If one of us can win it would be great.”
When Hartø last graduated from the Challenge Tour in 2012, he was one of a promising group of three Danes that season to progress, alongside Joachim B Hansen and Morten Ørum Madsen.
While Madsen has gone on to win on The European Tour, Hartø still thinks there is a lot more to come from that crop, while the many young stars coming through underneath them spell a bright future for the game in Denmark.
“I think we tend to push each other forward,” he said. “We keep pushing away and when one guy does well it’s not like there’s jealousy, it’s more like, I want to do that too.
“Lucas (Bjerregaard) is doing very well now, he’s a great guy with a really good head. I think JB’s going to have a good year on here this year because he’s playing well and, while I’ve been struggling to find my form a bit, I played well in Turkey last week which was nice.
“There is a quite a good crop coming through now on the ECCO Tour, but it’s tough to know who now - I don’t have my finger on the pulse since I’m not really there anymore. Daniel Lokke had a good finish in Madrid and he’s got a Challenge Tour category so I guess he’s one to look out for. There are some good guys coming through for sure.”
The Made in Denmark Challenge gives those guys a chance to make their mark in professional golf and Hartø is glad for all the hard work being done to promote golf in his home country.
“The Made in Denmark was a huge event last year, probably the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my golfing career,” he said. “Being at home in front of those crowds and everything that happened that week, it was just amazing.
“It’s great to see that they’re trying to push golf forward, not just for the top players but for the guys underneath too.
“Flemming Astrup is doing a great job on that, he’s the main man behind all these tournaments and he’s doing a really good job. It’s important for us and golf in general in Denmark, so people can see that it’s not just the top guys, there are a bunch of guys coming through too.
“The season hasn’t properly got going yet so it’s difficult to gauge how I’m playing, but I played some good golf in Turkey and if I can do more of the same this week it would be great. It would be nice to play well at home and have fun with the home crowds.”
Hartø and Hansen are joined by a plethora of experienced Danish players including former European Tour winner Jeppe Huldahl and former Challenge Tour winner Mark F Haastrup, while the younger crop include Christian Gloet and Mads Søgaard, both members of the Challenge Tour this year.
Rhys Davies, meanwhile, travels to Copenhagen after sealing his first title in five years last week in Turkey, and he is joined by fellow former European Tour winners Michael Jonzon of Sweden and Dutchman Maarten Lafeber.
