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Monday, December 23, 2024

Pro’s raw interview reveals he debated quitting


Lucas Bjerregaard

Lucas Bjerregaard tees off on the 7th hole at Kambanor on Friday.

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The first question was a bed.

“Seven birds and an eagle today. What goes through your mind when you’re doing so well?”

“Yeah, I was in the zone and things got a little easier today.” Lucas Bjerregaard said, “and yes, hoping for more such days.”

The second question then dug a little deeper.

Bjerregaard was speaking in what has been called the Green Room, a platform devised by DP World Tour, and its format is nonsensical: just a questioner with a computer sound and a yellow chair on which to relax and answer. Other professionals have stepped in. On Friday, after the second round of the British Masters, Bjerregaard made a logical choice.

He had just shot a scorching six-under 66 at the Belfry and was four back at the lead entering the weekend. But it has been a while since the 33-year-old Dane has been in such a place. In 2017, he won the Portuguese Masters. A year later, he won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. In 2019 and 2020, he jumped across the pond for PGA Tour events. But golf is fickle. This year, Bjerregaard has played events on the Challenge Tour, the circuit just below the DP World Tour.

And the voice of the Green Chamber was curious about it all.

What followed was raw honesty. Below is the interview. Below is the back and forth, with the questions in italics and some additional thoughts.

“You’ve been on the Challenge Tour this year, but you’ve played so well these past two weeks. How do you explain that?”

“I don’t know, I think it’s come a little bit,” Bjerregaard said. “I’ve had three top 10s on the Challenge Tour before last week, so the game has definitely been trending a bit. Before that, there were not many indications in the direction of any good results. I think maybe I was on the verge of giving up on the game a little bit and I think that helped me go out there and play a little more carefree and not worry about it too much.”

He’s eligible for top 10s – starting last month at the Black Desert NI Open, Bjerregaard is tied for seventh, eighth, eighth again and second. But that followed a 2023 campaign in which he had just one top-25 finish. And the 2022 and 2021 seasons where he had three.

“If you don’t mind, can you tell us about the last few years? When it doesn’t go well, what’s it like?”

“I’m not sure what the reason is,” Bjerregaard said. “I think it’s a bit of a snowball effect with a lot of things. I think my technique hasn’t been good enough and my safety, like anything, has not been anywhere near where I was back at my peak. It has been difficult, no doubt. I felt very alone. I felt a lot of searching for answers and not finding anything, and it seems the harder I tried, the less successful I was. The beginning of the year, I hurt my back vacuuming the house and I had two, two and a half months where I couldn’t play, and it was a pretty dark time where I thought about doing something other than golf, so again, maybe I had to get there before I could start playing better again.”

“You say that you almost gave up the game. What gave you the motivation to keep going?”

“Maybe my wife and kids,” Bjerregaard said. “Most of the things I do are for them. They have supported me and I think it would be a mistake to give up. My wife has been behind me through it all, and it’s been hard as a family to get through it, but she believes in me and I have a good group of people at home who believe in me and help me as much as they can and I think that I owe him everything.”

Bjerregaard’s wife is Henriette; his children are Josephine and Noah.

“Thank you for being so open and honest. It’s great to see him playing well. Good luck, Lucas.”

“Thank you.”

Nick Piastowski

Nick Piastowski

Editor of Golf.com

Nick Piastowski is a senior editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash down his score. . You can reach him about any of these topics – his stories, his game or his beers – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.



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