Open de Espana Each-Way Tips: Back Lawrence's head for heights

Main Bet: Thriston Lawrence 1pt each-way @ 33/1

October in Iberia - it's often been a thing on the DP World Tour but never quite as formal as this month, with three events in Spain followed by a week in Portugal.

It all kicks off with another visit to Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, a sporting hub in the capital city known for its equestrian, tennis and hockey facilities in addition to the Javier Arana layout featuring has quirks that make it popular with some and worthy of avoiding for others.

These often reveal themselves in odd angles. That might be with the lines from the tee or into the green, or in the lie of the land the golfer is taking aim at.

But perhaps the really key factor is altitude.

Which is not to say that Madrid has the thinnest air but it is the second highest city in Europe, sitting at 650 metres above sea level on the Meseta plateau.

When you compare this to other high venues on the circuit it seems insignificant: Johannesburg and Nairobi are both around 1,750m while Crans-sur-Sierre is about 1,500m.

But a look at the last 10 winners at Club de Campo suggests that the capacity to adjust to (slightly) thinner air matters.

Last year's winner Rafa Cabrera Bello is a two-time winner in the Alps on the second tier at around 450m and has top three finishes in Kenya and Mexico City (2,240m).

The man he beat in extra holes, Adri Arnaus, (who would probably have won but for the eventual winner gaining a very fortuitous drop on the 72nd hole) has always played well at altitude while Jon Rahm, the 2020 winner, had little competitive experience at heigh but had been third in Mexico.

Before them, in the first decade of the century, Charl Schwartzel, Richard Sterne and Retief Goosen landed wins here and each of them is vastly experienced on the high veldt in their home country.

Other past winners in Madrid during that period include Raphael Jacquelin (a winner in Crans on the second tier and second in Joburg) and Ricardo Gonzalez (another past winner in Crans and in Nairobi also).

Having established the importance of this factor I'm more than happy to build this week's team around a man who earned the column a win last time the circuit played in these conditions.

South Africa's Thriston Lawrence has enjoyed a superb season, one which started with a bit of luck but he's more than made the most of it.

That good fortune came when he was leading the Joburg Open by four shots at the halfway stage following a pair of 65s whereupon the tournament was cancelled and he was declared the winner.

The next time the tour hit the heights he finished second in the Kenya Open before heading home to landed a pair of top 20s around Johannesburg.

He was solid throughout the summer, highlighted by a top three in the Irish Open, before he landed a second triumph at the European Masters in Crans.

He was among those who struggled in last Friday's wind at the Dunhill Links Championship, but either side of his 80 he carded a 67 and a 69.

A week before that he was sitting inside the top 10 at halfway in the Open de France before finishing 20th.

Back on a tree-lined parkland track with thinnish air he's in his sweetspot and can enjoy his course debut.

Next Best: Joachim B. Hansen 1pt each-way @ 66/1

The Dane Joachim B. Hansen has twice proved that he enjoys the Villa Madrid test.

Back in 2019 he finished fourth and was in the mix for much of the weekend.

He backed that up with 24th last year and he's gone sub-70 in seven of his eight laps of the course.

His savvy in thin air has been hinted at when going 5-for-6 at making the cut in Kenya, but was really evident when he won the Joburg Open at Randpark in 2020.

He was also sixth there in 2017 and he contended when back on the high veldt earlier this year in the Steyn City Championship.

He had a rough time of it form-wise after that effort but was 14th in the European Masters and 13th two weeks ago in the Open de France.

I won't fret too much about his failure to make the final day in the Dunhill Links - he's played that event six times and only played four rounds once, on debut.

He's made something of a habit of playing his best golf in the final months of the season and that could easily happen again this week.

Final Bet: Daniel Gavins 1pt each-way @ 100/1

A year ago Englishman Daniel Gavins finished sixth in the Dunhill Links and followed it up with a third round missed cut at this event, but I'm going to take him to make a better fist of things this time around.

Yes, he recorded another sixth at the Home of Golf last weekend and his debut on this course was far from poor, with two sub-70 laps ahead of difficulties on the Saturday (77).

A week later he finished 11th at Valderrama and, in addition to being decent at altitude, winners at Villa Madrid have played well on distinctly tight tests such as the 1997 Ryder Cup venue.

Another layout that suits golfers keen on a tree-lined test is Galgorm Castle where Gavins won last year's ISPC Handa World Invitational.

He was sixth in the Kenya Open earlier this year to suggest that the thin air won't faze him and he's always enjoyed Spain, with good results there on the second and third tier in addition to that top 15 at Valderrama and another at PGA Catalunya in the spring.

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