Aside from perhaps Kevin Kisner, no one’s stock rose more after the WGC-Match Play than Lucas Bjerregaard’s. The Dane underdog endeared himself to the American galleries with a name that sounds like “Beergarden” and a powerful swing.
He’s a relative newcomer to playing in the U.S. but has showed well in 2019 with a T12 at the Honda Classic and the run to Sunday at the Match Play resulting in solo fourth.
The 27-year-old has been in North America since the WGC-Mexico last month and also picked up a T30 at the Players, so I like him to keep his form going the more and more comfortable he gets on Tour.
Bjerregaard narrowly missed qualifying for the PGA Championship last summer, making this his first stint in the US.
In 12 rounds on the European Tour earlier in the year, Bjerregaard ranks 22nd in stroke average and 35th in strokes gained tee to green. His numbers get uglier on and around the greens, but in reality the margins are pretty thin in pro golf. Even the quote en quote “bad” players in a category are capable of piecing it together for a week, or weeks at a time.
He’s made 12 cuts in a row worldwide going back to last summer. He’s also a two-time European Tour winner at the 2017 Portugal Masters and at the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship where he held off the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Brooks Koepka who all lurked in the top 10.
Fun fact before we move on: In his PGA Tour bio under “Special Interests,” the only bullet point is “weight lifting.” Love it.