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Tournament Preview
Thriston Lawrence will be aiming to follow in the footsteps of the great Seve Ballesteros this week when he defends the Omega European Masters for a second time.
The South African, who claimed the title at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in 2022, added to his success in Switzerland last year when he defeated England’s Matt Wallace, Finland’s Sami Välimäki and Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard by two strokes.
The 29-year-old returns to the Alps with a third victory firmly in his sights, a feat which would see him join Ballesteros as the only three-time champion (1977, 1978 and 1989) since the historic event became part of the DP World Tour’s schedule.
Entering the week with three top-20 finishes under his belt already this season, Lawrence will need to outplay a strong field in Crans-Montana, including World Number 22 Ryan Gerard.
The American has enjoyed a stellar run of late, recording three runner-up finishes on the PGA TOUR along with an outright third-place performance at last week’s Tour Championship.
He arrives in Switzerland, having made the 4,730-mile journey from Atlanta, as the top-ranked player in the field, for what will be his sixth worldwide event in as many weeks.
Another player looking to continue recent momentum is Denmark’s Højgaard.
The 25-year-old came close to winning his sixth DP World Tour title and second on home soil at the Danish Golf Championship last month, finishing runner-up to countryman Jeff Winther.
An Omega European Masters champion on debut in 2021, the World Number 76 returns for his sixth appearance, hoping to capitalise at one of his favourite venues on Tour.
Twin brother Nicolai will look to create his own magic in the mountains when he tees it up for the fifth time.
The Dane, who registered four top-tens to finish 35th on the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Standings, will aim to build on his 2023 efforts at Crans-sur-Sierre, which saw him take a share of fifth place.
Joel Girrbach, one of eight Swiss players in the field, will lead the home charge, while Miguel Ángel Jiménez is set to make his 36th Omega European Masters appearance and 725th DP World Tour start.
The Omega European Masters is one of the oldest tournaments on the DP World Tour, with this year marking the 79th edition and 87th anniversary in Crans-Montana, and the 91st edition and 103rd anniversary of the event overall.
Player Quotes
Thriston Lawrence: It’s amazing, walking the streets, you just regenerate a lot of memories from the first time in 2022 when I won. The people stay friendly, they remember your face, and it’s nice weather this week, so it’s a nice welcome back.
(On last year) I mean, I don’t normally drive on six, but I just felt like after that three-bogey start, I had to do something, and that sort of just gave me a kick start to the round. I know I was playing nicely the first three rounds, so I just needed something to get my head back in the game, and, yeah, I managed to pull it off.
Just my composure (was important), sort of forgetting that it’s Fitzpatrick and Wallace (chasing) – they’ve won here before, and they’re obviously great golfers, but I know I’m good enough too, and I’ve proven it, and just to stick to my game plan, and believe in myself, and do my best, that’s all I can control.
Definitely, a little thicker (the rough). The greens are unbelievable. It’s probably the best I’ve seen the course. It just keeps on improving every single year. I think the weather has definitely helped up the golf course. I think the greens are going to firm up and speed up a little, but generally, it just looks amazing.
Ryan Gerard: A little bit of jet lag, didn’t sleep great last night, but I’m excited to be here in some nice weather, and the course looks awesome, so I’m pretty stoked to get out there and play some golf.
I would say energy levels are low; I’m mentally a little bit fatigued. But, you know, we’ll be fine by Thursday. It’s one of those things where you kind of turn your brain off, go kind of get as good of a feel as you can for the golf course – the ball is going to go pretty far at elevation, so just kind of get a good idea of how those numbers are looking – and then show up on Thursday with a good attitude, and just try and put some good swings together.
You kind of just catch yourself staring around instead of like paying attention. So, honestly, it’s a good kind of mental break for me right now – I’ve played a lot of really competitive and difficult, kind of grindy golf the last five weeks or so, and it’s nice to kind of be out here, look around, get lost in nature a little bit, and kind of bring a smile to the face. It should be a fun walk, should be a great golf course, and I’m just excited to have a nice chill couple of days, and then get ready to get right back to it on Thursday.
I don’t really get a good chance to play DP World Tour events during the PGA TOUR season. It’s an unfortunate reality – it’s just too much overlap, and it’s too hard to travel intercontinentally that much. But I’ve been happy to be a member of the DP World Tour for a couple years now. I understand that it’s really important to play as much as you possibly can on both tours, and I’m just going to come over here – I’ve got a couple more events to meet the minimum, but we’re going to try and exceed that a little bit and really, you know, play some golf in some cool places and hopefully bring a few more eyeballs to the TV.
I have a really good stats guy that put together a 12-minute kind of crash course for us, so we kind of know what we’re getting into. I know there’s some weird holes on the back nine, that kind of driveable one that everyone kind of goes for. I played with a couple guys the last few weeks that have been talking about the course a little bit. So, just gleaning information from anyone who’s played here before, but it’s not the same until you see it yourself. So, going to go out there, treat it with the respect it deserves, and go focus in this practice round for nine holes, and then pro-am it tomorrow (Wednesday).
Rasmus Højgaard: I feel good. It was nice to have a couple of weeks at home, after a busy stretch over the summer. I’m looking forward to one of my favourite weeks of the year.
It’s a fun golf course. It can be a little quirky off the tee at times. You really have to control your approach game here, which I quite like. You have to fly them down, control the spin, especially when you’re adjusting to five, seven ten percent of the altitude and the heat at times. It’s a fun week when you have to work all of that out, but also just the town itself is amazing. You can walk anywhere and the food is great.
It’s one of my favourite weeks and every year that I come here, I get great support. Hopefully I can play here for many years to come.
The rough just off the fairways is thicker, especially here on 18. If you hit it just left of the fairway, which is not a bad miss normally, it’s quick thick. I think they’ve let the rough grow a little bit.
Nicolai Højgaard: I do feel good. It’s always a nice week to look forward to. Looks like the weather is going to be great this week for a change from last year, but I’m feeling good. I feel like the game is in a good place. It’s been a long season, but I’ve been really excited to come back to Europe and play.
Maybe a little bit because you feel like the season, everything you’ve played this year is now finished. So you’ve got to refocus and set new kind of goals. But as I said, there’s some really good events coming up here in Europe now and I’m excited to play.
It’s looking good, thicker rough this year, bit more juicy. Around the greens, you know, left of 18, which is it’s easy to miss it up the left side a little bit, very thick rough. So it’s looking good, a bit soft at the moment. Hopefully we can get it a little bit firmer during the week, but it looks good.
(Any pointers from Rasmus) Not really. I mean, he tends to play well here every year actually. I played well a few years ago here, so I feel like I got decent memories here as well. He is a specialist around this place, so we always play a practice round.
Joel Girrbach: It’s an exciting week. I obviously have good memories from last year as well, and it’s always nice and special to be back home.
It was a tough and long week, last week. I unfortunately missed the cut by one as well, so on top of all that weather. It looks great this week – blue skies all week, so hopefully it’s a great week.
It was actually a course that shouldn’t suit me that well, so it was nice to get a top 10 there. It was tough conditions as well. Then two missed cuts by one, which was a pity, but we try to get it back here.
It’s feeling alright, it’s feeling solid. Sometimes if you feel like you’re striking the ball well, then on the course you can’t score, and then sometimes it’s the other way around. I will just focus on hitting good shots and giving myself chances.
The rough is up, definitely. I’ve never seen Crans like this to be honest – it’s going to be a test this week, which is great. It looks like they’ve had no heatwave up here and enough water as well. It’s going to be a test, and it’s going to be good. I hope for some big support.
Venue: Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club, Crans-Montana, Switzerland
2025 Champion: Thriston Lawrence (RSA)
Prize Fund: $3,750,000
Race to Dubai: Tournament 33 of 42
Back 9: Tournament 2 of 9
Race to Dubai Points: 5,000
Ryder Cup Points: 1,500