Hojgaard twins to team up for Hero Challenge in Ras Al Khaimah

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard will team up for an exciting new exhibition event, the Hero Challenge, in Ras Al Khaimah on Tuesday with the Danish twins hoping to make it another Hojgaard double following Nicolai’s spectacular DP World Tour victory on Sunday.

The Hero Challenge will feature 26 teams of two professionals per team playing over nine holes in a Texas Scramble best-ball format.

The event will be broadcast across the world and viewers will get a unique inside-the-ropes experience, with closer interaction between players and course commentators, and with certain players mic'd up throughout their round.

Nicolai Hojgaard, the Ras Al Khaimah Championship presented by Phoenix Capital winner, said: “I always look forward to playing with Rasmus, now we get nine holes with a fun tournament so it will be a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Nicolai sealed his second DP World Tour title at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, emerging from a roller-coaster final day with a four-stroke victory courtesy of an array of world-class recovery shots at Al Hamra Golf Club.

The win, which means that Hojgaard and his twin brother Rasmus have earned five Tour victories between them before their 21st birthday, did not come easy for the Dane despite having enjoyed a three-shot lead going into the finale in the northernmost of the UAE.

“I have full confidence in Rasmus, when we play together we trust each other 100%. Maybe it sounds a bit like we’re going to take it seriously, but we’re going to have fun for sure and try to do our best while we’re having fun. We’ll see what happens.”

The Hojgaards, who last year became the first brothers to each win a tournament in back-to-back weeks, are one of the many teams featuring players from the same country, with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello and his Spanish compatriot Alfredo Garcia-Heredia playing in the same group as the Danes.

“I’m very excited, it looks like he’s driving the ball pretty good so that should make my job a little easier!”, said Rasmus.

“I think we’ll just go out and try to have fun. It’s going to be a relaxed little competition. We’re here for two weeks so it’s nice to have something a little different to do, to have a little nine hole competition is great and will just be a lot of fun.

“We’ve been talking about what we’re going to wear and maybe wearing the same outfit, it will be a little surprising I think!”

Marcus Armitage and Jordan Smith – a former winner in Ras Al Khaimah on the Challenge Tour, who finished runner-up to Hojgaard last week – play in an all-English team while Scots Stephen Gallacher and Robert MacIntyre pair up hoping to claim the lion’s share of the $150,000 prize pot.

An all-Swedish group, meanwhile, will feature Marcus Kinhult pairing up with Alexander Bjork and they will play alongside a team featuring Sebastian Soderberg and Joakim Lagergren.