Out of the Rough: Open de Espana presented by Madrid (2026)
Updated: Oct 5
The DP World Tour is set to make its final stop in Europe before heading to India next week for this week’s Open de Espana presented by Madrid.
Including this week, there are just three events remaining in the 2026 DP World Tour regular season.
From here, the Tour will head to India for the DP World India Championship and then South Korea for the Genesis Championship to put a cap on 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 six 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 PGA Tour playing its FedEx Cup Fall swing and the 2026 LIV season being finalized, the DP World Tour continues to benefit with some of the World’s best playing weekly. That will once again be the case this week in Madrid.
Spaniard Jon Rahm, a three time winner of this event and twice at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, headlines this week’s field as he looks to claim his fourth Open de Espana presented by Madrid title.
This is one of the rare instances where the home players have dominated. Since 2018 and the previous seven editions of this event, a Spaniard has won five times.
Angel Hidalgo is the latest to do so, winning in 2024. He too will be teeing it up this week on home soil. Rafa Cabrera Bello is another Spaniard who won this event, doing so in 2021 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid to be playing this week.
Other notable Spaniards in this week’s field include Eugenio Chacarra, David Puig, Jose Luis Ballester, Sergio Garcia, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, Sebastian Garcia, Angel Ayora, Jorge Campillo, Nacho Elvira, Alejandro Del Rey, Pablo Larrazabal, Ivan Cantero, among others.
PGA Tour regulars Justin Rose, Ludvig Aberg, Alex Noren, Nicolai Hojgaard, Shane Lowry, and Marco Penge help headline this week’s field as well.
Joining Rahm and Puig as fellow LIV Golf Tour members teeing it up this week include Tyrrell Hatton, Victor Perez, Adrian Meronk, Elvis Smylie, Bubba Watson, Tom McKibbin and Thomas Detry.
Race to Dubai Standings leader Patrick Reed will also be in attendance this week alongside Chacarra, Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper, Andy Sullivan, Jacob Skov Olesen, Bernd Wiesberger, Oliver Lindell, Daniel Hillier and Joe Dean as those currently in the top ten to secure PGA Tour cards for next season.
Penge comes in as the defending champion as he topped fellow countryman Dan Brown in a playoff to claim his third victory on the season.
The Course
Club de Campo Villa de Madrid's Black Course 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 large projected amount of rainfall to hit the area leading into Thursday. Each day from Sunday through Wednesday features a large chance of thunderstorms and heavy rains. This is worth monitoring to see if the course will play soft. As of right now, Thursday is calling for just a 20-percent chance of precipitation. Friday is calling for a five-percent chance, Saturday a ten-percent chance and Sunday a 15-percent chance. Temperatures will begin the week with a high of 72-degrees on Thursday and will remain constant through Friday. Temperatures will peak at 74-degrees on Saturday before returning to 72-degress on Sunday. Winds will be the highest on Thursday at nine miles-per-hour before settling to eight miles-per-hour on Friday, six miles-per-hour on Saturday and seven miles-per-hour on Sunday.
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
Patrick Reed (+2200)
I know the last time we saw Reed, he suffered a wrist injury while striking a root at the BMW PGA Championship. That has been roughly a month ago at this point and him teeing it up this week suggests that the injury may be behind him. With that being said, outside of Lowry, per my stats based model, Reed is my favorite to win this week. He is currently third on Tour in both scrambling and bogey avoidance, fifth in both SG: TTG and SG: APP, 12th in GIR%, 21st in sand saves percentage, 50th in birdie-or-better percentage, 62nd in SG: PUTT and 139th in driving accuracy percentage. Outside of his withdrawal at the BMW PGA Championship, Reed placed second at the Amgen Irish Open in his latest full event. Prior to that he placed 11th at the Omega European Masters. He’s also been rather good at this event and golf course across the past two seasons. He placed 16th here a season ago and tenth in 2024.
Eugenio Chacarra (+2500)
I’m stacking the top of my card this week with two of the odds-on-favorites and following that up with two long shots. Chacarra, outside of Rahm, is one of the top hometown favorites. Now, he hasn’t been good at this event the last two seasons. He missed the cut here a season ago and placed 65th in 2024 but we can’t ignore the form he’s in coming into this week. He placed third at the FedEx Open de France in his latest outing. Prior to that he placed 21st at the BMW PGA Championship, 36th at the Amgen Irish Open, fourth at the Omega European Masters and 21st at the Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo across his last five outings. Chacarra is currently fifth on Tour in bogey avoidance, ninth in SG: TTG, 13th in SG: APP, 14th in both GIR% and birdie-or-better percentage, 18th in scrambling, 78th in both sand saves percentage and driving accuracy and 89th in SG: PUTT.
Jayden Schaper (+7000)
If we’ve learned anything this season on the DP World Tour, it’s that those with good course history have repeated success (ex. Thriston Lawrence at the Omega European Masters.) Schaper has been excellent at this event and course across the last two seasons. He placed fifth a season ago and ninth in 2024. Now, he isn’t in good form coming into this week but there are a few bright spots across his last five outings. He missed the cut last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship but placed 26th at the BMW PGA Championship. He missed the cut at the Amgen Irish Open but placed 61st at the Omega European Masters and 15th at the Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo. His two missed cuts were at links courses however. Schaper is currently eighth on Tour in birdie-or-better percentage, 26th in SG: TTG, 30th in GIR%, 33rd in SG: APP, 35th in driving accuracy percentage, 40th in SG: PUTT, 45th in bogey avoidance, 56th in scrambling and 80th in sand saves percentage. There are no glaring holes in his game as shown with the stats above. Combine that with his course history and Schaper could be in line for a big week.
Gregorio De Leo (+20000)
This is a massive number for someone who hasn’t missed the cut across his last six outings on Tour along with a top five. De Leo placed 28th in his latest outing at the FedEx Open de France. Prior to that he placed fifth at the Amgen Irish Open, 61st at the Omega European Masters, 30th at the Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Falso, 53rd at the Danish Golf Championship and 61st at the BMW International Open. He is currently 17th on Tour in sand saves percentage, 24th in birdie-or-better percentage, 42nd in driving accuracy percentage, 48th in bogey avoidance, 54th in scrambling, 59th in SG: TTG, 61st in SG: APP, 69th in SG: PUTT and 94th in GIR%. Not a bad resume for someone at 200/1. He’ll be making his tournament debut this week.
2025 Betting Card
David Puig (+1800) - T9th
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (+2500) - T5th
John Parry (+6500) - T23rd
Jacob Skov Olesen (+13000) - T47th
2024 Betting Card
Matteo Manassero (+4000) - MC
Ewen Ferguson (+7000) - MC
Paul Waring (+7500) - MC
Yannik Paul (+9000) - T24th
Adrian Otaegui (+12000) - T39th
2023 Betting Card
Yannik Paul (+2500) - MC
Joost Luiten (+2800) - T20th
Adrian Otaegui (+3500) - T28th
Antoine Rozner (+5500) - T35th
Ewen Ferguson (+7000) - T9th
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