Niklas Regner is hoping to build on his recent good form at this week’s Frederikshavn Challenge – presented by HESSEL to kickstart a strong finish to the 2022 Road to Mallorca.
The Austrian currently occupies 52nd place on the Road to Mallorca Rankings after finishing fifth at last week’s Vierumäki Finnish Challenge, and he arrives at Frederikshavn Golfklub with aspirations of mounting a challenge for a top 20 spot, with ten events of the season left to play.
It was a low scoring affair in Finland, with Germany’s Velten Meyer winning on 26 under par, however Regner believes the challenge in Denmark this week will place more emphasis on ball striking.
“I’m very excited, the course looks really nice,” he said. “The fairways are pretty narrow and the rough is thick, so I think the key is to stay on the fairway. If you do that I think you can get a lot of birdie chances.
“I think if you’re good from the tee and a good ball striker then you can get a good advantage here. I hope it’s a course where I can play well.
“I played well last week. The scoring was incredible, 26 under won, so to be 19 under was pretty good. Putting was actually really good but I think this week is different. Scoring won’t be that low but the ball striking will have to be better because it’s so narrow. That suits me better.”
The 23-year-old missed back-to-back cuts at the Euram Bank Open and the Big Green Egg German Challenge powered by VcG last month but hopes his excellent showing in Vierumäki marks the beginning of a return to form.
“I missed two cuts in a row the previous two tournaments, the one on home soil and the one in Germany, so I was a little low,” he said. “It was really nice to be in the mix again, I gained a lot of confidence.
“I’m trying not to keep an eye on the Rankings as much as I did last year because it put me in a situation where I wasn’t as confident. I’m trying to approach every week like a normal week and hopefully I’ll be in the mix at the Grand Final again.
“The season is getting longer and longer, so the fitness is getting more important. I’m just trying to put a good schedule together and try to get some weeks off, but if it’s getting near to the end, you have to try and do everything to get to the Grand Final.”
The action will begin at 7.30am local time at Frederikshavn Golfklub, with Regner getting under way at 8.20am.
