Backtee Course, Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort, Farsø, Denmark. Designer: Jan Cedermolm, re-designed by Philip Spogaard, 2012; Par: 71; Length: 6,751 yards; Fairways: Bentgrass/Festuca; Rough: Rye/Festuca; Greens: A4 Bentgrass; Stimp: 11ft.
Course Overview. From its tips the Backtee Course can stretch to nearly 7,400 yards for its par of 71, however from the renewals we’ve seen here it has played much shorter than that and according to the European Tour website it will play just 6,751 yards this year.
As ever, caution should be exercised when taking that yardage as given as organisers have the choice of 5 tee boxes on each hole to flex distances as they see fit, however it’s played sub-7,000 yards on each of the past 2 renewals held here and it seems unlikely that we’ll see a complete about turn this week.
An exposed, inland track with water in play on 5 of the holes and linksy in style, the main defence is the breeze in what is often a windy part of the world – the forecast is for moderately breezy (10-15 mph) conditions at times and any wind tends to be accentuated on this type of exposed track, however at those levels the course should still encourage a reasonably low score.
In terms of the layout itself, 5 of the par-4s measure under 400 yards, plus there’s a 128 yard par-3, however the par-5 11th measures well over 600 yards making it a 3-shotter for the vast majority of the field.
Aside from the driveable par-4 14th which at 262 yards ranked the easiest hole on the course 2 years ago, the two par-5s on the front 9 – the 5th and 8th holes – offer the best scoring opportunities, with 22 eagles and over 300 birdies made on just those two holes last time we visited here.
The greens are excellent quality bentgrass that run very true and they tend to appeal to the better putters on Tour.
Tournament Stats. We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s Made In Himmerland that will help to shape a view on players who traditionally play well at this event.
As previously noted, we’re back at Himmerland this year which hosted this event for the first 4 years of its existence as well as in 2019, so the results from the 2018 season should be considered accordingly: Current Form | Tournament Form | First Round Leader Stats | Combined Current/Event Form Stats
Predictor Model. Our published Predictor Model is available here. As always you can build your own model using the variables available.
Winners & Prices. 2019: Bernd Wiesberger, 70/1; 2018: Matt Wallace, 40/1; 2017, Julian Suri: 60/1; 2016: Thomas Pieters: 12/1; 2015: David Horsey, 80/1; 2014: Marc Warren, 30/1.
Weather Forecast. The latest weather forecast for the area is here.
Occasional sunny spells are expected this week with temperatures struggling to get much higher than the low 60s Fahrenheit until later into the weekend. Winds will be moderate at 10-15mph on Thursday and Sunday, with lighter winds expected on the middle 2 days.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors.
Analysing the final stats of the winners from the first 3 years played here at Himmerland plus 2019 gives us a little more insight into the requirements for this test:
- 2019: Bernd Wiesberger (-14). 60.7% fairways (28th), 73.6% greens in regulation (8th), 52.6% scrambling (52nd), 1.61 putts per GIR (1st).
- 2016: Thomas Pieters (-17). 57.1% fairways (29th), 66.7% greens in regulation (41st), 70.8% scrambling (5th), 1.63 putts per GIR (2nd).
- 2015: David Horsey (-13). 50% fairways (52nd), 76.4% greens in regulation (8th), 52.9% scrambling (38th), 1.69 putts per GIR (10th).
- 2014: Marc Warren (-9). 44.6% fairways (61st), 68.1% greens in regulation (16th), 56.5% scrambling (31st), 1.67 putts per GIR (3rd).
No stats were captured for Julian Suri in 2017 as he was plying his trade predominantly on the Challenge Tour at the time.
From what we’ve seen over the 5 renewals, Driving Accuracy is seemingly less important than some tracks and the course neither alienates the shorter hitters nor overly favours the bombers – the common denominator from the stats above is primarily the ability to putt well on these slick bentgrass greens.
Although the stats are patchier for 2017, of the 7 players with recorded stats and finished inside the top 9, all of them ranked inside the top 27 for putting average, included in which we had 1st, 3rd, 7th and 9th place finishers in that stat. The first two home the last time we came here to Himmerland, Bernd Wiesberger and Robert MacIntyre, ranked 1st and 5th for putting average respectively.
For the 2019 renewal, we also have Strokes Gained data which further backs up the need for a hot putter. Of the top 8 finishers, eventual winner Wiesberger ranked 26th for SG Putting and was the worst of the 8; Larrazabal (1st), Langasque (3rd), Wilson (4th), MacIntyre (5th), Dunne (8th), Paisley (10th) and Schmitt (20th) each did the bulk of their scoring with the flat stick.
Event Winners – Incoming Form
Marc Warren arrived in Denmark 4 years ago in decent form having finished 3rd at the Scottish Open, 39th at the Open Championship then a creditable 15th at the US PGA Championship. He’d been putting consistently well for a few weeks, ranking inside the top-20 for putts per GIR on each of his last 4 starts and found enough greens on the week in windy conditions to compile a winning score.
David Horsey’s form the year after was less obvious having recorded 4 top-20 finishes in the season, however he too had been putting reasonably well recording 3 top-20 putting performances out of his most recent 4 cuts made.
Thomas Pieters was 2nd favourite for this title 4 years ago having arrived after finishes of 4th at The Olympics and 2nd the week before when defending in the Czech Republic and his chance was a fairly obvious one, whereas Julian Suri was still relatively under-the-radar as he was still playing predominantly on the Challenge Tour, however a runner-up finish in Portugal and 16th on his previous start – where he was 4th going into the final day – suggested that he wasn’t far away from winning at this kind of level.
Matt Wallace arrived in Denmark in 2019 following a disappointing 36th in the Czech Republic when chasing an unlikely Ryder Cup qualification. With his only remaining chance to win here and impress an on-looking Thomas Bjorn, the Englishman did just that by birdieing 5 of his final 6 holes to make a 4-man play-off which he won with birdies at both the first and second extra hole. Wallace had already won the Indian Open and BMW International Open in the season:
The last time we were here at Himmerland, Bernd Wiesberger arrived with some steadily improving overall form to his name, having started the 2019 season slowly. 23rd at the Indian Open contained some brief glimpses of improvement before a 68/68 weekend in China had registered his best finish of the year. A final round 76 on his last start at the British Masters masked his overall progression and 70/1 was the reward for those who sided with the Austrian:
- 2019: Bernd Wiesberger: MC/MC/51/42/MC/MC/MC/55/MC/23/14/70
- 2018: Matt Wallace: MC/3/20/51/MC/1/MC/MC/MC/MC/19/36
- 2017: Julian Suri: 31/1/3/23/11/MC/27/23/MC/16
- 2016: Thomas Pieters: 28/26/MC/27/16/29/30/86/4/2
- 2015: David Horsey: 42/15/MC/MC/38/11/MC/MC/66/33
- 2014: Marc Warren: 33/28/16/MC/29/MC/26/3/29/15
With limited course history, performances of the 5 Himmerland winners on this track prior to their respective wins are sparse with only Thomas Pieters (finished 35th) and David Horsey (39th) with any tangible experience around these parts prior to their wins.
My selections are as follows:
Made In Himmerland – Featured Bookmaker:
