Golf Events / Editor / 24 April 2007 /

Miguel Angel Jimenez will lead a strong home challenge at the Open de Espana this week as he attempts to become only the third Spaniard to win his home Open in the last 20 years.

It seems incredible to think that, despite the gluttony of talent they have produced over the last three decades, Severiano Ballesteros and Sergio Garcia are the only two Spanish players to have achieved the feat since 1987.

Garcia was the last to do it five years ago but he is playing in America this week and it will be left to Jimenez to front the home players' quest for glory.

Jimenez has experience of having won on home soil and, with four top ten finishes in eight starts this season including coming joint tenth in China last week, will fancy his chances of competing for top honours in Madrid.

The 44-year-old can be backed at 18 to win, 4.9 to place in the first five and 2.62 to finish in the top ten.

But if he doesn't win, don't be surprised to see some of his other compatriots up near the top of the leaderboard and challenging on Sunday afternoon with Jose-Manuel Lara, Alvaro Quiros, Alejandro Canizares and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano the names that immediately spring to mind.

Lara and Quiros are both winners on the European Tour this season while Canizares and Fernandez-Castano announced themselves as stars of the future with some outstanding performances in 2006.

Lara could be the player to follow out of the quartet as he has the best record in Spain. In seven tournaments in his homeland, he has finished in the top three on three occasions and only finished out of the top ten twice. He is trading at 44 to win, 9.6 to place in the first five and 4.5 to come in the top ten.

Canizares is well fancied and can be backed at 28 to win and 6.6 to finish in the top five, while Fernandez-Castano and Quiros are available to win at 65 and 120 respectively.

The course at Madrid's Centro Nacional de Golf has undergone considerable changes in readiness for this week's event with seven tees pushed back to add an extra 150 yards to the length and make it a challenging 7,242 yards off the championship tees.

The new tees and tighter fairways mean that the field will have to contend with water hazards on five of the seven closing holes and those in contention will have to be mentally strong if they're going to prevail over the final nine holes.

Niclas Fasth won last year after a nail-biting play-off with Englishman John Bickerton and the Swede is back to defend his title, where he is vying for favouritism with Jimenez and is trading at 17.5

Fasth is enjoying an outstanding start to his 2007 season which has seen him climb to 33rd in the world rankings and the 5.1 on offer for him to finish in the top five looks generous.

Sweden have an impressive record in the Open de Espana having won the event five times and it will be the third year in succession that they have won if Fasth or a compatriot triumphs this week.

After three wins in 2006, Johan Edfors' year has not really got going yet but the big-hitting Swede is a player of immense talent and may be a good prospect at 34 to win and 7.6 to come in the top five.

South African Charl Schwartzel, who lies 18th in the Order of Merit table, is a young player on an upward curve and may be worth following at odds of 20 to win and 5.2 to finish in the first five.

Simon Dyson arrives in Spain for the first of seven tournaments in Europe having enjoyed the Asian leg of the European Tour.

Victory has so far evaded the Yorkshireman's grasp in 2007 but he has been knocking on the door several times and it only seems a matter of time before Dyson, available at 25 to win and 3.1 to finish in the top ten, opens it.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell is arguably the form player this week having finished joint second and ninth in events in the last two weeks and is well fancied to do well at similar odds to Dyson.

European Ryder Cup heroes Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley will both have their followers and can be backed at 34 and 42 to win.

But the Irish duo have struggled for form in the early part of 2007 and the likes of Bradley Dredge and Paul Broadhurst make more appeal.

Dredge, 26 to win and 6 to place in the first five, enjoyed an outstanding US Masters on his debut at Augusta earlier this month while Broadhurst enjoys playing in this part of the world.

Since 2003, the Englishman has recorded five top-ten finishes when playing in tournaments in Spain and Portugal and, at 55 to win and 12 to come in the top five, appears generously priced.

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