Tournament: Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo
Venue: The Belfry Hotel & Resort, Sutton Coldfield, England
Race to Dubai: Tournament 32 of 42
Back 9: Tournament 1 of 9
Prize Fund: US$3,500,000
Hashtag: #BetfredBritishMasters #DPWT
Luke Donald is keeping a keen eye on potential Ryder Cup players as the qualification period for Team Europe comes to a close at this week’s Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo.
This week’s event marks the start of the Back 9 phase of the 2025 Race to Dubai, as the end of the season comes into focus and it’s All to Play For, including qualification for next month’s Ryder Cup.
European Captain Donald tees it up at The Belfry Hotel & Resort for the second year in succession this week and despite maintaining a focus on his own game, the quest to lead Team Europe to a second victory is firmly at the forefront of his mind.
Fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick is one player who will be hoping to impress the 47-year-old and earn a fourth Ryder Cup appearance, as he currently sits 12th on the European Team Rankings.
The 30-year-old has enjoyed an upturn in form in the second half of the year, with ties for fourth place at the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship forming part of a four-event stretch of top ten finishes as he targets a third consecutive appearance for Team Europe at Bethpage Black, New York, next month.
The 2022 U.S. Open Champion will be hoping to channel the memories of his breakthrough DP World Tour victory at the 2015 British Masters, where he claimed his first victory at Woburn as the youngest player in the field, and will make his return for the first time since 2018.
The only player still able to secure an automatic spot on Team Europe is Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard. The 23-year-old finished second in the Danish Golf Championship last week and sits just 13.6 points behind Ireland’s Shane Lowry – the current holder of the final qualifying place – and will earn a Ryder Cup debut by finishing in a tie for 29th with one other player or better this week.
Højgaard’s fellow Dane Niklas Nørgaard is the defending champion at The Belfry, having secured his maiden DP World Tour title last year in dramatic fashion. The 33-year-old recovered from a double bogey on the 16th hole to claim a memorable one-stroke victory and become the third Danish winner of the Betfred British Masters.
This week kicked off with a special 40th anniversary Ryder Cup match on Tuesday, with tournament host and six-time Major winner Sir Nick Faldo teaming up with Ian Woosnan to take on 1985 Ryder Cup team-mates Sandy Lyle and Sam Torrance in a five-hole match on the Brabazon Course.
Guide Dogs returns as the Official Charity Partner for the Betfred British Masters and the DP World Tour, for the second year running, have named a Guide Dog puppy which will be trained to assist one of the many people living with sight loss in the UK.
Puppy Ryder will go into formal training at 14 months old and her naming ceremony was the first of several activations happening on site this week, including fundraising efforts on course during the tournament. Betfred, the tournament sponsor, will donate £500 for every tee shot that finishes on the green on the iconic tenth hole, £500 for every eagle and £50,000 for the first hole-in-one on the 14th hole, where Sir Nick Faldo himself recorded an ace during the 1993 Ryder Cup.
Player Quotes
Luke Donald: Many good memories of watching some iconic moments in Ryder Cups at this very course, down there on the 18th hole. So, yeah, very special to be here because of that.
We had a really enjoyable evening last night with some of the legends. Sir Nick, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Sam Torrance, just listening to stories, and obviously when you think of The Belfry, you think of some of those Ryder Cup moments. Great to be here. Looking forward to the week.
I am very pleased (with how Ryder Cup qualifying is going). Again, it looks like it’s going to be a good group of those guys from Rome that are probably going to play in this one as well. The top five who have already qualified all were in Rome. There’s a bunch of other guys that are playing very well, high up on the points list. So very happy with the way things are going.
And every Ryder Cup there’s always a push by some people that have a good opportunity to claim their place on Ryder Cup team. It’s a little bit of a headache for me sometimes, but a good headache. Again, the more options that we have for those picks, the better it is, really.
Matt Fitzpatrick: It’s a special event. It’s a historic event, and it’s great that it’s been back on the schedule for a long time now. Obviously, very special to get my first win.
I think that week in particular, I’d kind of been playing not great leading up to it, which is quite amusing. And then to go out and to win wire-to-wire was pretty awesome. I was obviously super nervous going into that Sunday round, but it was a great memory.
It’s obviously an important week (for Ryder Cup). There’s a lot of scenarios at play. Obviously playing this week and next week is important for me to continue that to make sure that Luke knows I’m in and around the team. So, we’ll give it a good go this week and see what happens.
Niklas Nørgaard: It was the best golfing week of my life. So, it’s special to be back. Been here a few times now, and it’s one of my favourite stops on Tour.
It was a tough Sunday (last week) but it’s such a good week. It’s so nice. I don’t know how much you got of it on TV but we were just applauded on to every green. Don’t see that very often and don’t feel that. So very thankful for that. Game was better, and yeah, as I just said, been really looking forward to play these European tournaments now.
It’s a good test, you need a little bit of everything. It’s weird because just some courses really suit your eyes visually, and I think this one really suits my eye off the tee.
Last fall, my driving was the best it’s ever been and I’ve been struggling a little bit more with that a little. So hopefully when it comes to these tee shots, I can get that a little bit back. That’s what I’m hoping for.
But just as I said, so many good memories from here, and yeah, it’s one of my favourite courses, obviously, from last year, but also just in general.
