Out of the Rough: Nexo Championship (2025)

For the first time since the completion of The Open Championship, the DP World Tour returns to action with a brand new event at a brand new golf course.

The Nexo Championship takes center stage this week as Nexo becomes the first digital wealth platform sponsor of the DP World Tour. 

Additionally, when I say this is a new golf course, it isn’t just a new golf course to the Tour. The Trump International Golf Links, North Seas Course was opened on July 29th of this year. That is correct, just eight days before the event kicks-off.

This week marks the penultimate event of the DP World Tour’s ‘Closing Swing’ with next week’s Danish Golf Championship capping the swing. The ‘Back 9’ swing will begin in two weeks' time.

The Field

Many of the Tour’s best will be in attendance this week.

Leading the charge is current Race to Dubai Ranking No. 4 Marco Penge who comes in as the highest ranked golfer in the season-long-standings.

He’ll be joined by Kristoffer Reitan (5th,) John Parry (7th,) Jordan Smith (11th,) Alex Fitzpatrick (16th,) Daniel Brown (17th) and Eugenio Chacarra (20th) as those rankings within the top 20 of the Race to Dubai standings to be playing this week.

Being played in Scotland, there will be a strong group of representatives looking to claim victory on home soil. That list includes Connor Syme, Ewen Ferguson, Calum Hill, Grant Forrest, Richie Ramsay and Scott Jamieson, among others.

The Course

The Trump International Golf Links, North Seas Course was officially opened on July 29th, 2025, joining what is now known as the Old Course.

With that being said, it should go without mentioning that there is very little to be known about this venue.

It is being described as a modern links style course that features both coast-line links holes before going inland to heathland and wetland areas. It then finishes in sand dunes with views of the North Sea.

Dr. Martin Hawtree, the man trusted with preparing The Open Championship venues each season, is the principle architect of this design. He was supported by Christian Lundin and Christine Fraser.

It plays as a par-72 at 7,428 yards.

This new layout spans hundreds of acres of rugged coastal terrain with infinity greens hugging the coastal dune ridge.

The course features the world’s largest natural bunker as well as mountainous sand dunes.

As previously mentioned, this course features healthland and wetland areas and therefore has much more fresh-water in play than most links layouts in the area. 

In all, the idea was to add a second world-class 18 hole venue to the existing ‘Old Course’ to develop the ‘best 36-holes in golf.’ The idea too was to find the balance between traditional links golf and the ability to host professional tournaments and even some day, The Open Championship

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Thursday calls for a 50-percent chance of precipitation, Friday a 35-percent chance, Saturday a 25-percent chance and a 25-percent chance on Sunday. Winds will begin at 14 miles-per-hour on Thursday before falling to 13 miles-per-hour on Friday. Winds will peak at 16 miles-per-hour on Saturday and return to 14 miles-per-hour for Sunday. Temperatures will begin at 64-degrees across Thursday and Friday before falling to 63-degrees on Saturday and peaking at 66-degrees on Sunday. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Three Putt Avoidance

• Scrambling

• Total Driving (75-percent Average Driving Distance / 25-percent Driving Accuracy)

• Sand Saves Percentage

• Par-Four Average Scoring

Betting Card

Kristoffer Reitan (+2000)

Per my stats-based model this week, Reitan is my overall favorite. He is currently fourth on Tour in both total driving and par-four average scoring, 18th in three-putt avoidance, 32nd in SG: TTG, 39th in sand saves percentage, 52nd in SG: PUTT and 73rd in scrambling. Reitan most recently placed 30th at The Open Championship and 13th at the Genesis Scottish Open. He also placed fourth at the BMW International, 46th at the Italian Open, 13th at the KLM Open, second at the Austrian Alpine Open and won the Soudal Open. 

Angel Ayora (+4000)

Ayora most recently played the ISCO Championship where he placed 50th. He also placed 49th at the BMW International, seventh at the Italian Open, 19th at the KLM Open, missed the cut at the Austrian Alpine Open and 11th at the Soudal Open. He is currently second on Tour in total driving, 15th in SG: TTG, 39th in par-four average scoring, 44th in scrambling, 86th in sand saves percentage, 111th in three-putt avoidance and 140th in SG: PUTT. 

Wenyi Ding (+5000)

Ding is currently 11th on Tour in scrambling, 23rd in par-four average scoring, 35th in three-putt avoidance, 41st in sand saves percentage, 49th in SG: PUTT, 60th in SG: TTG and 66th in total driving. Ding has been out of form a bit as of late, placing 34th at the ISCO Championship and 26th at the BMW International across his last two outings. He also went through a stretch of events where he missed two cuts and placed at best, 51st in four events between the Soudal Open and the Italian Open. However, prior to that he placed 12th at the Turkish Airlines Open, 45th at the Hainan Classic, eighth at the Volvo China Open, 14th at the Porsche Singapore Classic and 14th at the Joburg Open. 

Brandon Robinson-Thompson (+7500)

Robinson-Thompson most recently played the Barracuda Championship where he placed 35th. He missed the cut at the ISCO Championship but did place 46th at the BMW International and 21st at the Italian Open. He is currently 23rd on par-four average scoring, 28th in SG: PUTT, 30th in scrambling, 33rd in total driving, 50th in SG: TTG, 61st in three-putt avoidance and 75th in sand saves percentage. 

Clement Sordet (+15000)

Sordet is currently 12th on Tour in SG: PUTT, 35th in scrambling, 44th in total driving, 63rd in par-four average scoring, 84th in sand saves percentage, 85th in three-putt avoidance and 102nd in SG: TTG. We last saw Sordet at the BMW International where he placed 38th. He also placed fifth at the Italian Open and 55th at the KLM Open.