Andrew's Challenge de Catalunya (HPT) Preview

A wonderful story on the HotelPlanner Tour last week as Chris Wood picked up the win. If you don’t know Wood’s story, he was a Ryder Cupper in 2016 who, has suffered through serious mental health struggles and a corresponding drop in form as a golfer, and had to earn his HotelPlanner Tour card by winning three times on the MENA Tour this winter. This was his first HPT start of the season, and it was a win. There’s a tiny bit of me that is irritated that I didn’t find him as a selection – my formula was short-hitting, canny veterans and that’s certainly him – but mostly I’m just delighted that this tour has once again thrown up a good news story. This is, of course, the same event that saw Matteo Manassero win on his return to the DPWT so we should perhaps only pick phoenixes in future. Unfortunately, my picks weren’t really at the races, so let’s hope for better as we head to Catalunya.

The Tournament

Despite being a new event, this is a very familiar venue for fans of second-tier European golf. Fontanals hosted the Challenge de Espana last year (which I previewed) and has hosted one of the second stages of Q-school over the last few years (I also previewed this last year.) So we know what we’re getting, and plenty of the players in this field have good experiences here. Last year, I talked about the weather a lot, and we have to do that again. There isn’t going to be much wind, but it is going to be cold and the course is going to be very soft. We can expect significant delays on Thursday, and there are storm and severe rain warnings in place for Tuesday and Wednesday. Well, we’re in the foothills of the Pyrenees in early spring, so I guess that’s what we should have expected. Hopefully they’ll play all 72.

When they do play, the golfers will find themselves on a 7,133 yard par-72 made shorter by the 1,000m or so of altitude, but longer by the undulations and the enforced lengths caused by regular water hazards. There isn’t much rough and this is bombs away from the tee, and in style this is very Floridian. We’re looking for players with length from the tee, we’re looking for strong putters, and we’re looking for good course history or local knowledge. We’re also looking for players with experience of going well in cold and wet conditions, which certainly won’t be everyone in this field.

The Selections

I don’t want to make this complicated, and I found it as easy as I have all season to like three guys and like their prices when I saw them. First, Luis Masaveu is one of the classiest players in this field, and he loves this course. He’s been playing regularly on LIV this season and whilst he’s not been brilliant, that’s a higher caliber of golf than this – and he was 12^th two LIV events ago in Mexico City, before grabbing the same spot in the Singapore Open on the Asian Tour. Last year, he was third at this course in both the Challenge de Espana and the second stage of qualifying. He hits the ball a long way, putts well, and is playing in front of a home crowd. He deserves to be favourite here and I expected shorter odds than I found.

Next on my list is Adam Wallin. The burly Swede will have faced worse weather than this in his native Gothenburg and, indeed, in his years at Ohio State. A teammate of Tobias Jonsson and Ludvig Aberg in the Eisenhower, he’s been a slower starter as a professional after a great amateur career but he’s won five times on the Nordic Golf League (including grabbing a win a couple of weeks ago during the fallow spell on the HPT) and was 16^th in Italy at a course that won’t have suited him nearly as well as this. He tied for sixth in the Q-school event here last autumn, shooting into qualification with a final round 65. Look for him to make a breakthrough sooner rather than later, and this is the right sort of course for him.

Finally, James Meyer de Beco is a man I backed here last year, when he finished 20^th. He was 36^th in qualifying in 2023 and ninth the following year. Like Wallin, he’s a young man who was a regular winner a tier down (in his case, three wins on the pro golf tour) and is starting to emerge as an HPT contender. He was fifth twice towards the end of last year and this season has two top tens from six starts. He also stayed busy during the break – something all three of my golfers can claim – and solid performances on the PGT will keep him ready to perform here at a very generous price.

• Luis Masaveu, 20/1, 2pts win only

• Adam Wallin, 40/1, 1pt e/w

• James Meyer de Beco, 100/1, 1pt e/w

All odds Bet365, where e/w, ¼ odds 5 places.