Rasmus Hojgaard Produces Strong British Masters Performance To Secure Final European Ryder Cup Automatic Qualifying Spot

Rasmus Hojgaard has claimed the sixth and final automatic qualifying place on Luke Donald’s European Ryder Cup team.

Ahead of the Betfred British Masters, the Dane stood only eighth in the European Ryder Cup rankings, with Shane Lowry 14 points ahead of him in the all-important sixth place and Sepp Straka in seventh.

However, Straka’s chances of leapfrogging Lowry had already gone, while Lowry was powerless to prevent Hojgaard taking his place with a strong performance in this week’s DP World Tour event.

That’s because the Tour Championship, which both Lowry and Straka are playing in this week, doesn’t offer Ryder Cup ranking points, whereas the Betfred British Masters did.

As a result, Hojgaard would have been fully aware of what was required ahead of the tournament, which was the last to offer points, needing no worse than a two-way tie for 29^th to book his place at the Bethpage Black match.

He began the final round well set at The Belfry in T14, and a one under 71 on Sunday ensured he met the minimum requirement with room to spare, eventually placing T13.

That earns him 24.150 Ryder Cup ranking points and in the final qualifying spot, joining Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton, who had already qualified.

It didn't take long for Donald to congratulate Hojgaard, calling him at the course and saying: "Welcome to Team Europe!" before adding: "I'm very, very excited to have you on the team."

Afterwards, Hojgaard, who will be making his Ryder Cup debut, admitted the achievement had yet to sink in, saying: “Yeah, I don't know what to feel right now. I've been so stressed out on the course today.

“Yeah, I was telling Tom, my caddie out there, I don't know how I'm going to be able to do this. You know, I managed to make a good four in the end there. So yeah, I'm over the moon right now.”

To rub salt into Lowry’s wounds, Hojgaard only had the chance to compete in the Betfred British Masters because, unlike the Irishman, he didn’t do enough to reach the FedEx Cup Playoffs, which conclude with the Tour Championship.

After the second round of the East Lake tournament, Lowry admitted he hadn’t been aware the event didn’t offer ranking points until earlier in the week.

He said: “Yeah, I only found out about that Monday. I thought I was guaranteed getting points this week. I thought I was going to be pretty much guaranteed on the team. Yeah, I was somewhat disappointed to hear that.

“But the rules were made at the start for qualifying, and that was it. I think I finished four points behind Tyrrell, which is pretty much a shot, which would have been nice."

In truth, it's unlikely to make much difference to Lowry, with a place on the team as one of Donald’s captain’s picks a near-certainty, something fellow members of the Tour Championship field, Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland, who began the week in ninth and 10^th in the rankings, respectively, are relying on too.

With Hojgaard back in the clubhouse, twin brother Nicolai was in contention to win the Betfred British Masters before finishing T2 behind Alex Noren, but that could be enough to persuade Donald to make him a captain's pick.

On the possibility of Nicolai, who made his Ryder Cup debut at Marco Simone in 2023, joining him on the team, he said: “It's probably the biggest goal we have together.

"Yeah, I think if it would happen this year, it would be amazing. But I'm sure we'll both fight to be able to do it another time if it didn't happen.”