The European Tour embarks on a four-week journey across Iberia, starting with Spain's national open in Madrid.
Sponsored by Spanish multinational conglomerate Acciona, this week's tournament takes place at the prestigious Club de Campo complex close to the city centre.
This will be the tenth time that the Spanish Open has been staged over the Javier Arana-designed Black Course which opened for business 65 years ago.
The first national open at Club de Campo was won by former Open champion Max Faulkner in 1957, while the most recent winner here was Jon Rahm two years ago.
Prior to Rahm's five-stroke victory in 2019, the course hadn't staged a European Tour event since the Madrid Open 11 years earlier.
On the tee
And Rahm has returned to the Spanish capital to defend the title he was unable to do last year because of Covid.
Rahm, the world No 1, is the only member of golf's top 50 in attendance this week and it's difficult to imagine him not being in contention on Sunday afternoon.
In 2019, when the Tour last visited Club de Campo, Spanish golfers occupied all three podium positions.
Runner-up on that occasion was former world No 16 Rafa Cabrera-Bello who also tied-10th here back in 2008.
However, the 37-year-old is currently outside the world's top 230 and hasn't had a top-10 since January.
One Spaniard who has enjoyed a great year on the Challenge Tour, and will be keen to test his game at a higher level, is Santiago Tarrio.
Latest odds for this week's Spanish Open
The 30-year-old rising star is a two-time winner on the Challenge Tour in 2021, and during the past 12 months has posted 10 top-six finishes - which includes one on the European Tour.
The younger Nicolai Hojgaard is already a champion at European Tour level and tees-up again this Thursday.
The 20-year-old Dane is riding high right now following his recent victory in Italy and during a momentous year, so far, has leapt more than 350 spots up the World Ranking to a career-high 153.
Finally, 23-year-old Matthias Schmid has made a strong start to professional life since finishing top amateur at this year's Open Championship in Kent.
The German was runner-up in the Netherlands last month and tied-ninth at St Andrews on Sunday.
Club de Campo
The Black Course is a rolling, parkland layout with tight tree-lined fairways and small undulating greens.
Accuracy will certainly be more important than distance this week on a low-scoring course that is a little shorter than the Tour average.
Club de Campo Madrid is one of Spain's largest sporting complexes covering more than 200 hectares.
In addition to the Black Course, there is a Seve Ballesteros-designed Yellow Course, along with facilities for horse riding, hockey, tennis, swimming, squash, table tennis and figure-skating.
Club de Campo had been mooted as a possible venue for the 1997 Ryder Cup but missed out at the expense of Valderrama which just happens to be the location for next week's European Tour event.
Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive
MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut
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