Chasing Pars Golf Podcast

ISPS Handa World Invitational (with GolfNutter3)

The DP World Tour returns this week after it's 4 week layoff after The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool and the Barracuda at Tahoe. While I've been busy with player interviews it's good to have the main reason we do this back and that is chat DP World Tour golf! This week I am joined for the first time by Nigel who is better known on Twitter as @GolfNutter3 calling in all the way from Brisbane, Australia to chat this week's ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics in co-sanction with the Ladies European Tour at Galgorm Castle in Antrim, Ballymena 30 mins outside of Belfast! This 7,200 yard Simon Gidman design opened in 1997 & has played host to Galgorm Open on Challenge Tour in 2018 won by Calum Hill and has been a mixture of Challenge Tour & more recently DP World Tour host to the ISPS Handa World Invitational since 2019 with its initial inception on the CT in 2019 where Jack Senior won, John Catlin won the 2020 Irish Open here at Galgorm Castle, while Dan Gavins & Ewen Ferguson have won the last 2 editions at both -13 & -12 respectively so expect more of the same a tougher test!
Check out who Craig & Nigel fancy for this week's tournament at Galgorm where we both have a consensus pick & agree on a couple of other longer shots! I want to thank Nigel for taking the time out (night time in Aus) to chat with me for the first time on Chasing Pars!
Enjoy!

Chasing Pars Golf Podcast (Trailer)

Marcus Helligkilde

In this episode Craig is joined by 3x Challenge Tour winner in the calendar year of 2021 & 3x Nordic Golf League winner Marcus Helligkilde. Marcus joins us en route to do some work before the DP World Tour returns in Northern Ireland next week at Galgorm! A Turkish Amateur Champion at 19 years of age Marcus would also play as part of Team Denmark with John Axelsen at El Camaleon in Cancun which is the home of the Mayakoba (Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Bob MacIntyre, Grant Forrest & Maverick McNealy were part of the 2016 Eisenhower Trophy). Marcus is also a 2 time European Amateur Team Championship participant!
Marcus would turn pro in 2017 and would make limited starts on Nordic Golf League before finding his feet in 2018 with a whole host of top 10 finishes finally resulting in winning his first title as a pro at 2018 Ekerum Oland Open on the Nordic Golf League. In 2019 Marcus would gain a Challenge Tour card but would struggle throughout the season dropping back down to Nordic Golf League in 2020 where it wouldn't take him long to gain a 2nd title on the NGL at Lumine Hills Open just before COVID hit. During COVID Marcus would keep fresh and plugging away winning Danish National Open then returning with a 4th in Sweden which would help him gain Challenge Tour Card for 2021. Season 2021 would start off with a win at ECCO Spanish Masters on NGL (3rd title) then make the weekend at both Africa events on the Challenge Tour followed up by a 2nd placed finish at Range Servant Open then a good finish of T25th at Made in Himmerland on the DP World Tour would lead up to a first win on the Challenge Tour in August of 2021 at Vierumaki Finnish Challenge defeating Jesper Svensson to clinch his maiden title. Another 2nd at B-NL Trophy would follow before his 2nd win at Swiss Challenge winning at an impressive -25, another 2nd would occur at Costa Brava Challenge before the Grand Finals in Mallorca would see Marcus win Grand Tour Final & Challenge Tour player of the year becoming the first player to win 3 times in a Challenge Tour season & gaining a DP World Tour card for the first time! Marcus would start off 2022 season slow before finding something in Qatar finishing T12th at Qatar Masters. An injury layoff for 2 months would halt his season before returning at Irish Open then finishing T8th at Barbasol & T13th at Barracuda in the States! A 4th place finish at Galgorm in Northern Ireland would be his best finish on the DPWT which would help Marcus keep his tour card for 2023. 2023 has been consistent season for Marcus currently 57th in R2D Ranking at time of recording with a 2nd placed finish at Korea Championship helping his cause.
With DP World Tour season resuming next week I ask Marcus how he feels coming into next week's Northern Ireland event.
A talented and upcoming player from Denmark, Marcus has a big future ahead!
Thanks Marcus for coming on & wish you the best!
Enjoy!

Jorge Campillo

In this episode Craig is joined by 3x DP World Tour winner & winner of the Triple Crown at the University of Indiana, Jorge Campillo! We go through his time as an amateur participating in the Palmer Cup for Europe 3 consecutive years in 07, 08 + 09 even playing Dustin Johnson in the singles in 07. Jorge was also a participant in the 2008 Eisenhower Trophy with Team Spain. Jorge would turn professional in 2009 competing on the Challenge Tour from 2009-11 as well as a few limited European Tour starts. Jorge would finish 2nd twice at the Acaya Open + The Rolex Trophy to make it to the finals in San Domenico where a 6th place finish would put him into 9th overall to gain his European Tour card! Jorge would keep his card for the first 3 seasons then would play some super golf in 2016 to cement himself as a tour regular. In 2018 finishes of 2nd at Maybank in Malaysia, 4th in Oman, 3rd in China + 3rd in Ireland would fill Campillo's game with confidence before in 2019 at the 229th time of asking Jorge would gain an emotional victory at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco to win his first European Tour title. Another 2 wins would come at the 2020 Qatar Masters (21 events after his first win) defeating David Drysdale in a thrilling play off with an unbelievable putting display then would win his 3rd DP World Tour title at Magical Kenya Open this year!
A consistent & steady player that has now kept his card on the DP World Tour for 12 straight years deserves respect for that.
Thank you Jorge!
I hope you all enjoy!

Martin Vorster

In another special episode of Chasing Pars we welcome on 2021 South African Amateur Strokeplay Champion, 2020 African Amateur Strokeplay Champion & current Sunshine Tour professional Martin Vorster as we speak about his stellar amateur career winning 8 times at Amateur level as well as participating and winning the 2019 Junior World Cup for South Africa in Japan! Martin also got selected for the International team for the 2019 Junior Presidents Cup side alongside his good friend Jayden Schaper. We speak about the rise from amateur to how life is as a Professional golfer on the Sunshine Tour and his first experience of travelling alone in Europe as part of the Challenge Tour! Martin is a super upcoming talent coming from playing with the likes of Deon Germishuys, Wilco Nienaber, Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper & Christo Lamprecht.
Follow Martin @Martin_Vorster57 on Instagram and let's give him a big amount of support as he tries to making it as a Professional!
I hope you enjoy!

Wyndham Championship (with SportsGuyTy)

It was a pretty non eventful 3M Open for us with runaway leader Lee Hodges claiming a first PGA Tour title in impressive fashion by 7 shots to JT Poston after Postman tripled the 72nd hole after going straight at the par 5 for eagle resulting in it hitting a rock and into the water. This week we move onto a classical golfers for classical PGA oldies usually it's Sedgefield CC for the final regulation event on the PGA Tour season at the Wyndham Championship where the top 70 this year in a format change qualify for the Fedex Cup Playoffs instead of the normal 125. Several good players hover around or outside the top 70 including Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry and Billy Horschel who all need good weeks to reach the playoffs next week!
I'm joined by @SportsGuyTy from Playing the Tips podcast (formerly Right Click, Print Money podcast) to offer his advice on how Sedgefield will play and the type of players that we target for this week!
Enjoy

John Axelsen

In this episode of Chasing Pars, I am joined by current Danish DP World Tour player John Axelsen who joins me back home from Tølløse in Denmark as he looks forward to returning to the DP World Tour after the mini break. John is a multi talented player with 4 wins on the Nordic Golf League, 1 win on the Danish Golf Tour as well as an illustrious Amateur Career where he reached 15th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and 2nd on European Amateur Golf Rankings winning 8 times as an Amateur. John would also along with Hojgaard twins win the 2018 Eisenhower Trophy the biggest Team event trophy in Amateur Golf as well as being a record 3x Danish International Amateur Champion (2014, 2017 + 2018) and being a part of the 2014 Junior Ryder Cup team!
John won 3 times on the Nordic Golf League in the calendar year of 2022 and topped the Order of Merit to gain a card on the Challenge Tour but after finishing 9th next to a close buddy in Christoffer Bring at Q School he managed to gain his tour card for the DP World Tour in Nov 2022. We discuss about the difficulties of adjustment to your life and all the different cultures aswell as look back at some of his recent good form shown on the DPWT!
Thank you John for coming on and we wish you all the best!
Enjoy

Andreas Kali (Golf Coach)

In this episode of Chasing Pars Craig is joined by Golf Coach Andreas Kali who is he coach of DP World Tour player Marcus Helligkilde and Rasmus Neergaard, Challenge Tour players Sebastian Friedrichsen and Fredrik Birkelund as well as few other Nordic Golf League players and Juniors. Andreas is a former professional player in his own right finishing as high as 17th in the Nordic Golf League rankings. Taking his own experience into Golf coaching he takes pride in helping other amateur and junior players reach their goals of making it to the professional ranks! We speak about the upcoming rose of the young talented Sebastian Friedrichsen and his time on the Challenge Tour! We also go at length about the rise of Marcus Helligkilde from Nordic Golf League winner to 3x winner on 2022 Challenge Tour with 2 2nd's too to his steady couple of seasons on the DP World Tour combinating in a career best finish of 2nd at Korea Championship won by Pablo Larrazabal! We go at length about why Danish Golf is in such a good place at the minute!
Thanks to Andreas for coming on to chat.
Enjoy

The Open Championship

It's here the last major of the year at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, Merseyside for the 151st Open Championship. Royal Liverpool makes its return to the Open rotation for the first time since Rory McIlroy won it in 2014 from Rickie Fowler & Sergio Garcia. This should be a wide open Open Championship we talk the big 3's chances whole we also go through the first 12 or so names in the market for (Chances or Fade) while we also go over fav mid range plays aswell as long shots and look at specials markets! We give you our full insight into this week's Open Championship!
Let's go with the last major of the year!
Enjoy.

Genesis Scottish Open

It was an emotional win for Rasmus Hojgaard winning in a mammoth 6 hole playoff at Made in Himmerland to win his 4th DPWT title at the age of 22! Meanwhile over in the States it was Austrian Sepp Straka that won John Deere Classic with a final round 62 to win by 2 to win for the 2nd time on PGA Tour.
This week we are back in Golf Country with the Scottish Open again being a star studded field ahead of next week's Open Championship at Hoylake, again it's taking place at Tom Doak's The Renaissance Club in North Berwick (30 mins outside of Edinburgh). Xander Schauffele is the defending champion after winning by 1 at -7 to Kurt Kitayama! Myself & Tom give our thoughts on what is always a great week in the calendar.
Next week is the big one at Hoylake so why don't you give us a review or interact with us on if you listen, enjoy it or tell us what we could do better!
Enjoy!