The heart of the DP World Tour’s schedule continues on as the Tour moves from the United Kingdom where it spent the better part of a month to Spain for this week’s Acciona Open de España.
This event dates back to 1912 and apart from 2017 when it was omitted from the DP World Tour schedule and 2020 due to the pandemic, this event has been played annually since the DP World Tour’s inception in 1972.
Club de Campo Villa de Madrid has been the host of this event for the last four editions.
Prior to it becoming the host of the Open de Espana, Club de Campo Villa de Madrid was familiar to the Tour. It was last played on the Tour in 2008 when it became the first of four editions of the now defunct Madrid Masters.
It was also the host of the now defunct Open de Madrid between 2001 and 2005 and also hosted that same event in 1996.
It additionally hosted the Turespana Masters in 2000.
The Field
As has been the theme of the DP World Tour field’s since the 2024 PGA Tour season came to an end at the start of the month, this week’s field will feature a multitude of top tier European-based talent.
Jon Rahm comes in to headline the field, as he looks to claim his fourth Open de Espana title. Rahm has won three-of-the-last-six editions and two-of-the-last four that were held at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Joining Rahm are fellow LIV Golf members Tyrrell Hatton and Patrick Reed along with PGA Tour members Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Matt Wallace, Sepp Straka, Mattieu Pavon and Victor Perez.
Other notable names teeing it up this week include Matteo Manassero, Richard Mansell, Alex Fitzpatrick, Julien Guerrier and Ewen Ferguson.
Of course, there will be a heavy Spanish contingent teeing it up this week in hopes of winning on home soil. Along with Rahm, the likes of David Puig, Jorge Campillo, Pablo Larrazabal, Alejandro Del Rey, Adrian Otaegui and Rafa Cabrera-Bello will be playing this week.
Pavon is the defending champion of this event, winning by four strokes over second place Zander Lombard.
Cabrera-Bello won this event in 2021 and will be joined by Andrew Johnston (2016,) James Morrison (2015,) Thomas Aiken (2011) and Alvaro Quiros (2010) are former winners who will be teeing it up.
The Course
Club de Campo Villa de Madrid in Madrid, Spain is this week’s host and plays as a par 71 at 7,112 yards.
It is a Javier de Arana design and was opened in 1956.
It is best described as a traditional inland course that also sits 2,500 feet above sea level. In turn, this has the already shorter course play shorter than the yardage on the score card suggests.
It is a hilly course with sloping tree-lined fairways that suggests that driving accuracy will be of a premium this week opposed to distance off the tee.
The greens are well protected by a multitude of bunkers and the greens themselves are undulating.
Under ideal weather conditions, this track can feature some very low scoring.
Ross McGowan opened the 2021 edition of this event with a ten-under 61. Jon Rahm shot a nine-under 62 in round four in 2022 when he claimed his third Open de Espana title.
In all, we can expect a birdie-fest this week.
Due to this, greens in regulation will be an important statistic to monitor and those who can scramble well to avoid dropping strokes will see a leg up.
The Weather
As of the time of writing this, Thursday currently has the highest chance of precipitation at just 30-percent. Beyond that, Friday calls for a 10-percent chance as Saturday and Sunday currently call for a zero-percent chance. Temperatures will begin at 73-degrees on Thursday before falling to 69-degrees for Friday and Saturday and then peaking at 75-degrees on Sunday. Thursday is shaping up to be the toughest of the days, as with the slight chance of precipitation, they are calling for 21 miles-per-hour winds. The winds will drop to 13 miles-per-hour on Friday before leveling out to just six-or-seven miles-per-hour for both Saturday and Sunday. As it currently sits, those who can wade the waters through Thursday will set themselves up for the rest of the week.
Key Stats
Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)
Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)
Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)
Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)
Scrambling
Sand Saves Percentage
Driving Accuracy
Birdie or Better Percentage
Bogey Avoidance
Betting Card
Matteo Manassero (+4000)
Manassero posted a T4th last week at the star-studded BMW PGA Championship and also placed third the week prior at the Amgen Irish Open. He also recently placed T6th at the Betfred British Masters, T31st at The Open Championship, T15th at the Genesis Scottish Open, T10th at the Italian Open and T7th at the KLM Open. In other words, he’s in some pretty good form. He is currently fifth on Tour in SG: APP, sixth in GIR%, 16th in SG: TTG, 21st in sand saves percentage, 28th in bogey avoidance, 64th in scrambling, 84th in both SG: PUTT and birdie or better percentage and 88th in driving accuracy. He will be making his debut at this course and event this week.
Ewen Ferguson (+7000)
Ferguson is currently seventh on Tour in SG: APP, 12th in bogey avoidance, 13th in driving accuracy, 20th in both scrambling and GIR%, 21st in SG: TTG, 31st in birdie or better percentage, 47th in sand saves percentage and 116th in SG: PUTT. In other words, he’s top 21 in six-of-the-nine statistical categories I took into consideration this week. Ferguson won the BMW International Open back in June and most recently placed T18th at the BMW PGA Championship last week. He also placed T22nd at The Open Championship and T36th at the Amgen Irish Open as of late. Ferguson also placed T9th here at this event a season ago.
Paul Waring (+7500)
Waring hasn’t been in insane form as of late but did place T45th last week at the BMW Championship. He also finished T12th at the Amgen Irish Open, T25th at the Betfred British Masters, T6th at the D+D Real Czech Masters and T21st at the Barracuda Championship recently. Waring is also 11th on Tour in bogey avoidance, 18th in birdie or better percentage, 20th in SG: APP, 30th in scrambling, 32nd in GIR%, 43rd in SG: TTG, 63rd in SG: PUTT and 71st in driving accuracy. He also placed T20th here a season ago and T27th in 2022.
Yannik Paul (+9000)
Paul has not played to what we have come to expect out of him this season but he had an impressive T18th at last week’s BMW PGA Championship. Prior however, he missed three straight cuts but did place T19th at the Danish Golf Championship. He also placed T8th here in 2022. Paul is currently seventh on Tour in GIR%, 20th in bogey avoidance, 33rd in SG: APP, 52nd in SG: TTG, 68th in scrambling, 78th in driving accuracy, 79th in birdie or better percentage, 83rd in SG: PUTT and 135th in sand saves percentage.
Adrian Otaegui (+12000)
With four-of-the-last-five winners of this event winning on home soil and five-of-the-last-eight, I had to include one Spaniard on the card. Otaegui placed T28th at this event a season ago and placed T17th in 2021. He is currently second on Tour in driving accuracy, 18th in SG: APP, 25th in SG: TTG, 42nd in GIR%, 47th in bogey avoidance, 48th in scrambling, 96th in sand saves percentage, 115th in birdie or better percentage and 138th in SG: PUTT. He also re-found some form as of late, placing T18th last week at the BMW PGA Championship and T17th at the Amgen Irish Open. Prior to that, he missed five consecutive cuts but placed T22nd at the Italian Open and T10th at the KLM Open prior. He also won this season at the Volvo China Open.