Thorbjorn and Soren have a prince of a day at Kingston Heath

The Danes were overcome with the joy of it all after Olesen birdied  18 to secure their country's  first ever World Cup golf win
The Danes were overcome with the joy of it all after Olesen birdied 18 to secure their country’s first ever World Cup golf win

DANISH golf received a huge shot in the arm, and no doubt even Princess Mary, who it turns out is a handy golfer herself, is justly proud of the inspirational win by Thorbjorn Olesen and Soren Kjeldsen in the 2016 World Cup of Golf.

Olesen and Kjeldsen were pretty pleased with their own effort as well, particularly when they held firm after their lead all but evaporated half way through their final round at Kingston Heath.

They answered their potentially disastrous bogey on the par five 8th, a hole any self respecting fourball team would expect to birdie most days, with six birdies on the back to put paid to some charges by a number of other teams, notably France (63), China (65) and arch rivals Sweden (62).

The moment the Danes realised just how heavy the World Cup trophy is
The moment the Danes realised just how heavy the World Cup trophy is

The Danes were also obviously pleased as punch to answer the challenge from their final round partners Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker from the US (66). They closed with a 6-under 66 to finish on 20-under for the tournament, four clear of joint runners-up China, France, and the US.

“Yeah, it was great to be honest,” Olesen said to the suggestion the win was even sweeter to take the cup in front of the Americans.

“They’re both really, really nice guys, Rickie and Jimmy, and we had a good time out there. But obviously America is a huge country and Denmark is a very, very little country and it’s definitely a nice feeling to beat them.”

Kjeldsen just smiled. “Well , I agree,” he said.

Oh look now it has had babies
Oh look now it has had babies

Kjeldsen said the feeling of playing in a two man team for his country was different than any previous experience for him.

“I think I’ve won like, I played Eurasia Cup this year, 10 guys I think we were to win that, so it was amazing. But this is very different, two guys out there. I think the psychology has been really interesting for me because like when you play your own game, it’s different, but when you’ve got a guy like this on the back nine on Sunday, it’s like you feel you want to die for the guy.”

The Danes said although golf was a very propular participation sport in their homeland it was overshadowed in the media by soccer and handball.

They were also hoping for a bit of acknowledgement from former Aussie, Princess Mary, who did once work in golf advertising and was quite a good player.

“Hopefully we’ll get like a written notice,” Kjeldsen said. “We both

know her husband a little bit, so who knows. We might get a little hello from them.”

The Danes with Aussie golfing great Peter Thomson
The Danes with Aussie golfing great Peter Thomson

Aussies Adam Scott and Marc Leishman saved their best till last, finishing with a 7-under 65 to be 11-under for the tournament and tied ninth.

“It was nice to finally see a few putts drop and some red numbers on the leaderboard.  So it’s definitely a lot more enjoyable out there today when you can play like that. You know, it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t start that on Thursday, but it’s something to build towards for next week,” said Leishman.

Scott added, “It was tough conditions Thursday and Friday in the wind.  And we didn’t play poorly, but we didn’t play good enough to be at the top of the leaderboard. We just didn’t have the momentum over the weekend to catch up.  But there were some good signs.”

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