As his return to the DP World Tour regular season approaches, the 34-year-old will be hoping he can emulate Hoegaard, who delighted a large and enthusiastic crowd by becoming the first Dane to win the tournament on home soil last season.
“It’s been a great week for us since the tournament started, especially for those of us from Denmark who are back home competing,” Olsen said.
“I think it’s been a great tournament for all the other players as well, the field has been good and the schedule has been really, really good.
“It's been a dream of mine to win here since it started. Rasmus was incredible last year, he was on a really good run and I think we really needed him. We were very close to winning but no Dane had won before Rasmus, so it was amazing to see him win last year.”
While Olsen is only competing in his fourth DP World Tour regular event this season, that’s not to say he hasn’t been busy competing in events around the world.
In fact, the eight-time DP World Tour champion has been playing primarily on the PGA Tour since becoming eligible last season, while also competing in three majors, a Rolex Series event and the Olympics.
Olsen struggled in limited PGA Tour opportunities and failed to retain his card for next season, but he hopes a return to familiar surroundings, coupled with his Olympic experience, will help him build to a successful season on golf's global tour.
“I’ve played in the last 16 in Brazil but this was such a great tournament and the atmosphere on the golf course reminded me of the Ryder Cup – it was great,” he said.
“Obviously you want to win a medal and we didn’t achieve that but it was a brilliant week and it showed golf in a different light which I thought was really great for the sport and overall it was an incredible week.
“I’ve been there most of the year (on the PGA Tour), but I’m really happy to be back on the DP World Tour, I love playing here and I’ll be playing here the rest of the year and hopefully get that card back, that would be great.
“I do miss it a bit and I’m really excited to be playing in all these events in Europe and there are so many great tournaments coming up.”
