Nicolai Højgaard sets sights on TOUR card following Ryder Cup triumph
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LAS VEGAS – A look at Nicolai Højgaard’s bag tells you he’s probably still thinking about the Ryder Cup. His smile when the event is brought up gives it away, too.
Højgaard, 22, walked around TPC Summerlin on Wednesday afternoon with the European Ryder Cup Team headcovers donning all of his clubs. He answered questions from his giddy pro-am group about it.
It was a dream week, he said. One he’s not soon to forget. Though, for the next two weeks, he will do his best to focus on earning his next dream: securing a PGA TOUR card for 2024.
Nicolai Højgaard sprays champagne alongside European Captain Luke Donald during the celebrations after the Sunday Singles matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club. (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Højgaard has yet to secure his status on TOUR next season. The rising star from Denmark is playing this week’s Shriners Children’s Open on a sponsor exemption, as he has for most of his 12 starts this season. He’s currently just a Special Temporary Member, which allows him to accept unlimited sponsor exemptions through the end of the FedExCup Fall.
If he secures more non-member FedExCup points than the No. 125 finisher in the standings by the end of The RSM Classic, he will earn full TOUR membership for 2024.
“It’s why I’m playing,” Højgaard told PGATOUR.com on Wednesday. “If you want to be the best, this is the place to play.”
He’s in good shape entering this week. His 438 non-member FedExCup points would rank him 113th in the FedExCup standings. He expects his performance in Las Vegas this week and at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan next week will be enough to lock his card up.
He is confident it will only take these two starts to do so. Højgaard plans to keep his commitment to playing the final two events of the DP World Tour schedule – the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the DP World Tour Championship – regardless of how his next two weeks on TOUR unfold.
“No matter what happens, that'll be my season,” he said.
Given how he’s playing, he’s right to feel that way. He’s carded three top-six finishes in his last six worldwide starts, and in his three previous TOUR starts, he’s finished T21 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, T23 at The Open Championship and T14 at the Wyndham Championship as well. Then, of course, there’s the experience of the Ryder Cup.
Nicolai Højgaard dials in approach to yield birdie at Genesis Scottish Open
It was an up-and-down week for Højgaard individually. He made eight birdies during Friday’s afternoon Four-ball session, where he and Jon Rahm tied Americans Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka. He lost his final two matches to finish 0-2-1, which included a 3-and-2 loss to Xander Schauffele in Sunday Singles.
But the experience of the week was invaluable. When asked what memories stood out from the week, neither involved his on-course performance. He first recalled watching Justin Rose sink a clutch putt to tie the final Friday Four-ball match and stifle a wave of American momentum. Then he reminisced on an impassioned speech by Shane Lowry on Saturday night that got the team ready for Sunday. It was being among his golfing idols that stuck with him.
“When you’re around the best players in the world, you watch and learn a little bit what they do, and you take it in,' Højgaard said. "It was a huge learning week. There’s so much I can take with me going forward from being in that team room.”
It was a team room with 59 PGA TOUR wins among them. Højgaard is still searching for No. 1. He will have plenty of chances. That starts by earning his card this fall.