Breakfast Ball #18: Europe's Next Generation

It is an exciting time to be a European golf fan. A dominant Ryder Cup win in Rome. A new young star in Ludvig Åberg. Two new PGA Tour winners in 2024. Who will be part of the next generation? We will take a look today.

In This Week’s Newsletter:

Who Will be Europe’s Ryder Cup Stars in the Next 10 Years? 5 Names to Watch Under 25

Ludvig Åberg’s performance at The Masters cemented him as a potential superstar. He is likely to lead Ryder Cup teams for years to come. However, who else will be there with him? Who are the other young European stars that could go up against the USA’s best?

🇩🇰 Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard (23 yrs, 1 month)

If you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you will definitely have heard of the Højgaard twins. They turned pro in 2019 at the age of 18 and became the first brothers to win consecutive events on the DP World Tour in September 2021. Nicolai made the biggest break through last year when he won the DP World Tour Championship and appeared on the European Ryder Cup team at Marco Simone. He currently holds a full PGA Tour card and was briefly in the lead at The Masters this year. Rasmus is 15th in the DP World Tour rankings with a chance to secure a PGA Tour card for next season. There is a chance they could be the first brothers to represent Europe at the Ryder Cup since the Molinaris.

☘️ Tom McKibbin (21 yrs, 4 months)

When Tom McKibbin won the Porsche European Open last year, he was the youngest Northern Irish player to win on the European Tour since a certain Rory McIlroy. McKibbin also grew up playing golf at Holywood Golf Club in County Down, McIlroy’s home club. He has seven top 25 finishes in his eight appearances on the DP World Tour this year, including three top tens. At only 21, McKibbin has plenty of golf ahead of him, but it would be great to see him get one of the ten PGA Tour cards available on the DP World Tour this year.

🇧🇪 Adrien Dumont de Chassart (24 yrs, 1 month)

ADDC burst onto the scene on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023, winning his first start after finishing college at the University of Illinois. He came in the top ten in his first six events, easily qualifying for the PGA Tourin 2024. However, it has not been a dream start for the Belgian. He has been cut in seven of his thirteen starts, and has only managed two top 25s in those events. While he clearly has extremely high potential, he is going through a tough period and currently sits at 143rd in the FedEx Cup rankings. Let’s hope he can improve his form and keep his status on Tour.

🇩🇰 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (24 yrs, 9 months)

Another young Danish talent is Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. RNP graduated from Oklahoma State in 2023 (where he played alongside Viktor Hovland for a year) and started his career on the Challenge Tour last year. If I was writing this 6 weeks ago, he wouldn’t have been in consideration. However, he has taken over the Challenge tour with two wins in his last three starts. Those two wins are likely to give him a DP World Tour card for next year, where he could make a late claim for the Ryder Cup team in Bethpage Black in 2025.

Otaegui Wins in China on DP World Tour as Koepka Wins LIV Singapore

Spaniard Adrian Otaegui won the Volva China Open by one shot ahead of Guido Migliozzi. Otaegui entered the final round five shots behind the leader, but shot a superb seven-under 65 on the final day to win. Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg was leading going into the final round and tied for the lead approaching the 72nd hole of the tournament. However, his tee shot on the 18th found the penalty area and he carded a double bogey to give the win to Otaegui.

It was Otaegui’s fifth win in his career and it also secured him a place in the PGA Championship in two weeks time: “Playing a Major this year was a big goal for me. I’m delighted that I will be at the US PGA Championship in two weeks, it will be just enough time to rest a little bit at home next week and then head to America.”

2023 PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka geared up for this year’s edition by winning LIV Singapore by two shots ahead of Cam Smith and Marc Leishman. It was Koepka’s fourth win on LIV and he took home four million dollars for the victory (that is $400K more than the winning prize at The Masters). “I've put in a lot of work. I feel like on the golf course, off the golf course, it's been a good two weeks, to say the least. I like the way things are trending.” We could be set for an epic matchup between Koepka and Scheffler in Valhalla.

The best European was Tyrell Hatton in T5, four shots behind Koepka. Jon Rahm continued his streak of finishing in the top ten at every LIV event he has played in with a T10. It has not been a great start to the year for Rahm, who struggled to a T45 finish at The Masters and has not won any event on LIV yet. While this would be great form for most golfers, early season Rahm is usually rampant. It will be interesting to see how he plays at the second major of the year.

Other News & Results on Tour:

• Taylor Pendrith won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour ahead of rookie Ben Kohles

  • It was a heartbreaker for Kohles, who went into the final hole one shot ahead but bogeyed the par-5 18th to lose by one

  • 🇸🇪 Alex Noren, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Matt Wallace, and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Aaron Rai all finished in the top 5 - Noren broke into the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings

• 16-year-old 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kris Kim became the youngest player in 11 years to make the cut on the PGA Tour

  • Kim received a sponsor’s exemption into the tournament and performed incredibly well, finishing the week in 65th

• Ryder Cup legend and broadcaster 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Oosterhuis died at the age of 75

  • Oosterhuis holds the record for the most singles wins in Ryder Cup with six victories, including two over Jack Nicklaus

Coming up this week on Tour

• The PGA Tour’s next signature event is the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow

  • This will be a tune up for the second major of the year in Valhalla Golf Club in two weeks - the PGA Championship

• The DP World Tour and LIV Golf are taking the week off to let players prepare for the PGA Championship

If you have any feedback for the newsletter or would like to get in touch, I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] or message us on Twitter/X at @BlueHorizonGolf. Thank you for reading!