Out of the Rough: Open de Espana (2025)

The DP World Tour is set to make its final stop in Europe for the season with this week’s Open de Espana presented by Madrid. 

Including this week, there are just three events left in the ‘Back 9’ Swing of the DP World Tour’s schedule and therefore just three events left until the playoffs begin.

From here, the Tour will move to India and then Korea to cap off the regular season.

The Open de Espana presented by Madrid 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 five 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 hosted 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

With the regular season of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf being done for the season, this event is drawing some big names.

None more notable than Spaniard Jon Rahm who makes his first appearance since helping Team Europe retain the Ryder Cup in Long Island two weeks back.

He’ll be joined by Ryder Cup teammate Shane Lowry who hit the sealing putt to tie Russell Henley on the 18th green to at least retain the Ryder Cup for Team Europe.

Spanish golf hero Sergio Garcia will also be teeing it up this week. Patrick Reed, Joaquin Niemann, David Puig and Tom McKibbin will also tee it up alongside LIV Golf members Rahm and Garcia.

Notable DP World Tour regulars teeing it up this week include Marco Penge, Kristoffer Reitan, Haotong Li, John Parry, Laurie Canter, Martin Couvra and Jordan Smith.

Angel Higaldo comes in as the defending champion as the Spaniard held off Rahm in a playoff a season ago.

Former winners of this event teeing it up include Rahm (2023 & 2019) and Rafa Cabrera-Bello (2022.)

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, there is a minimal chance of precipitation this week with all three of Thursday, Saturday and Sunday calling for just a ten percent chance and Friday a five-percent chance. Thursday currently calls for the highest temperatures at 79 degrees. Temperatures will fall to 76-degrees for Friday, 75-degrees for Saturday and 75-degrees on Sunday. Winds will be a non-factor this week as they are set for seven miles-per-hour across Thursday and Friday before settling to six miles-per-hour on Saturday and just five miles-per-hour on Sunday. In all, a perfect four days for some golf.

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 Percentage

• Birdie or Better Percentage

• Bogey Avoidance

Betting Card

David Puig (+1800)

I thought long and hard about this selection and it boiled down simply to the fact that Puig is rather good at golf. He placed 50th last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and 11th at the BMW International Open in his start prior on the DP World Tour. On the LIV Golf Tour he most recently placed T4th at LIV Golf Indianapolis back in mid-august. He played this event a season ago where he finished third. He finished the LIV Golf season fourth in average driving distance, fifth in putting average, ninth in scrambling, 11th in birdies, 25th in GIR% and 39th in hit fairway percentage. 

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (+2500)

Sure there is some fear-of-missing-out when it comes to Neergaard-Petersen as I’ve been backing the young Dane all season long, but there is reasoning behind my belief this week. He placed 13th at this event a season ago. He equaled Puig a week ago with a 50th place finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and placed 20th in his start prior at the BMW PGA Championship. He also placed eighth at the European Masters, 13th at the Betfred British Masters and 16th at the Danish Golf Championship recently. He is currently fifth on Tour in sand saves percentage, sixth in GIR%, 12th in SG: TTG, 18th in SG: APP, 22nd in scrambling, 54th in driving accuracy and 68th in SG: PUTT. 

John Parry (+6500)

Parry is currently third on Tour in SG: APP, sixth in SG: TTG, 12th in GIR%, 34th in scrambling, 48th in driving accuracy, 56th in sand saves percentage and 120th in SG: PUTT. Parry is an elite tee-to-green player, and as the saying goes, it comes down to the putter. This week is going to be a birdie-fest and he has the tools to set himself up with a lot of scoring opportunities. If he can convert them will be the true test but getting there is half-the-battle and he does that with the best of them. He placed 24th here a season ago and 47th in 2023. He also placed third last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. 

Jacob Skov Olesen (+13000)

Olesen placed fifth last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and prior to missing the cut at the event prior at the Open de France, he also placed eighth at the Amgen Irish Open. He is currently 14th on Tour in sand saves percentage, 21st in SG: APP, 28th in GIR%, 40th in SG: TTG, 71st in driving accuracy, 76th in SG: PUTT and 85th in scrambling. He’ll be making his tournament debut this week.