As debuts go, it was a comparatively quiet and undeniably disappointing one on the PGA Tour for a man widely touted as the next star of European golf. But Nicolai Hojgaard is quick to point out that his American experience was not entirely unrewarding.
A month ago, Hojgaard claimed his second win on the DP World Tour, which moved him into the top 70 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Yet the young Dane—he turns 21 in eight days—insists that two missed cuts in the United States will make him a better player.
In his PGA Tour debut at last week’s Honda Classic, Hojgaard shot 76-72 to miss the weekend. Things weren’t any better in his second start, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. After opening with 75, he battled to within reach of the cut line with an eagle at the par-5 16th, before a closing double-bogey guaranteed an early exit. But he was far from deflated.
