Rasmus Højgaard is enjoying the buzz of playing on home soil this week as he lit up Furesø Golf Klub to move into the lead at the Danish Golf Championship.
After opening with a five-under-par 66 on Thursday, the 24-year-old went two shots better in the second round as he set the clubhouse target at 12 under through his first 36 holes.
Amid increased scrutiny as Højgaard – the 2023 champion – makes a concerted push to automatically qualify for Team Europe at next month’s Ryder Cup, he put on a show to the delight of the bumper crowds in Copenhagen.
"You feed off each other a little bit," said Højgaard.
"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 eight, but it was a great atmosphere out there."
Beginning at the tenth, the start of the tougher nine statistically, Højgaard began his day with six straight pars, before he backed up a birdie at the 16th with an eagle at the par five 18th after an excellent approach with a five iron to three feet.
From there he then made five birdies in his opening six holes of his back nine and only a bogey at the eighth after an errant tee shot denied him the outright course record, instead matching the score set by early pacesetter Marco Penge in the first round.
"To be honest, I didn’t feel like I was attacking that much," he added.
"I was putting the ball in play off the tee. Hitting the middle of the green for the most part of the round.
"Towards the end of the first nine I made a birdie and an eagle and that sort of somewhat got the round going. After that I made quite a few birdies.
"I didn’t try to do too much out there. I was just striking the ball well, had an idea of where it was going and set up a lot of chances."
