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Catalunya Championship: In-form Otaegui can contend again

Steven Rawlings
26 April 2022
4 min read

Adrian Otaegui - fancied to contend again in his homeland

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The DP World Tour remains in Spain for another new tournament and our man's here with his in-depth preview...

"Otaegui did absolutely nothing wrong on Sunday except bump into Larrazabal on a good day and he could well contend again.

Tournament History

Following last week's inaugural ISPS Handa Championship in Spain, and prior to next week's British Masters at the Belfrey, the DP World Tour remains in Spain for another brand-new event - the Catalunya Championship.

Venue

The Stadium Course, PGA Catalunya Resort, Girona, Spain

Course Details

Par 72, 7,353 yards
Stroke Average in 2014 when 181 yards shorter - 73.99

The PGA Catalunya resort has two courses (named Tour and Stadium) and it opened in 1999. The Stadium Course staged the Sarazen World Open in the year that it opened, which was won by Thomas Bjorn and a year later it hosted the Open de Espana for the first time, won by Brian Davis.

PGA CATALUNYA 2022 5.jpg

Designed by Ryder Cupper, Neil Coles, and former Tour pro, Angel Gallardo, it was again the host course for the Open de Espana in 2009 and 2014 and, together with the Tour Course, the Stadium also co-hosted the European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage between 2008 and 2016, as well as the PGA Catalunya Resort Championship on the Nordic Golf League between 2016 to 2022.

The Stadium Course is a tough undulating tree-lined course with water in-play on five holes and since staging its third Spanish Open eight years ago, it's undergone a €1m upgrade to prepare for this week's tournament.

Weather Forecast

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 13:00 on Thursday

Course Winners' Stats

Listed below are the scores and stats for the winners of the four previous events held on the Stadium Course.

1999 Sarazen World Open - Thomas Bjorn -15
DD - 19
DA - 20
GIR - 11
SC - 6
PA - 22
Par 3s +1
Par 4s -6
Par 5s -10

2000 Open de Espana - Brian Davis -14
DD - 21
DA - 26
GIR - 20
SC - 8
PA - 3
Par 3s +4
Par 4s -6
Par 5s -12

2009 Open de Espana - Thomas Levet -19
DD - 27
DA - 10
GIR - 1
SC - 16
PA - 12
Par 3s level
Par 4s -4
Par 5s -14

2014 Open de Espana - Miguel Angel Jimenez -4
DD - 22
DA - 10
GIR - 56
SC - 2
PA - 10
Par 3s level
Par 4s +2
Par 5s -6

DD - Driving Distance
DA - Driving Accuracy
GIR - Greens In Regulation
SC - Scrambling
PA - Putting Average

What Will it Take to Win the Catalunya Championship?

Conditions have varied here in the past and when Miguel Angel Jimenez edged out Richard Green and Thomas Pieters in extra time to set the record as the oldest DP World Tour winner for the third and final time, when winning the Open de Espana for the first time in his 27th attempt, the field had to contend with very tough conditions.

In brighter, more benign conditions, the scoring here has been low but it's still a tricky, tree-lined track.

Looking at the stats above, hitting plenty of greens has been key and up until 2014, it was definitely the most important stat.

In the Sarazen World Open, Bjorn ranked 12th for GIR and three of the first seven home ranked 7th or better. In 2000, 3rd placed Peter Baker and 6th placed Gary Orr hit more greens than anyone else and in 2009, the winner, Thomas Levet, and Bjorn, who finished 3rd, tied 2nd for greens hit.

Scoring-wise, in all four editions, the winners have made up the bulk of their scores on the long holes.

Is There an Angle In?

Given we'd gone almost a month in-between regular DP World Tour events and that most of those in the field last week hadn't played since the Qatar Masters in March, it may make sense to side with those that teed it up in Tarragona.

The weather disrupted last week's ISPS Handa Championship in Spain with lengthy delays on Thursday and Saturday so some were inconvenienced but I'd still consider playing last week and having the opportunity to knock off a bit of rust as a plus.

Brian Davis hasn't got a very good record at Wentworth but the other three DP World Tour event course winners, Bjorn, Levet and Jimenez all have.

I'd also consider form at Crans (home of the European Masters) and Valderrama to be worthwhile too.

Bjorn has twice won the European Masters at Crans and although he only won the event once, Jimenez regularly contended in the Swiss Mountains.

Valderrama is another tricky tree-lined Spanish track, although it's slightly tougher than this venue.

In-Play Tactics

Looking at past results here, the start is generally easier than the finish.

The par five 15th was the easiest hole on the course in 2014 and the par five 12th was the second easiest but the hardest five holes were all encountered from the ninth hole onwards.

The par four ninth hole was the hardest hole on the course eight years ago but the first three holes and holes six to eight are all scorable.

We really don't have a lot to go but Jimenez, Bjorn and Levet were all up with the pace all the way so it might be sensible to concentrate on the early leaders. Jimenez fell from second and one back to eighth and four adrift at halfway but sat second after round three, Bjorn sat 2nd, a stroke off the lead after rounds one and two and was in front with a round to go and Levet trailed by one after day one but led all the way thereafter.

Davis started slowly and sat 34th and six off the lead after the opening round but he sat fifth and three off the lead at halfway and he was in front with a round to go.

Market Leaders

Ryder Cup star, Bernd Wiesberger, and last week's winner, Pablo Larrazabal are vying for favouritism with last week's runner-up, Adrian Otaegui just a few points bigger.

Wiesberger will undoubtedly benefit from last week's outing, when he finished a never in-contention 38th but he doesn't have any course form (shot 80 in round one of the Open de Espana in 2014) and we haven't seen the best of him in some time.

As highlighted in yesterday's De-brief, I can see Larrazabal emulating Jimenez and enjoying plenty of success as he matures (now 38) but it's a big ask for him to step up here and go in again.

Pablo Larrazabal wins in Spain.jpg

In two previous visits (2009 and 2014), he's yet to break 70 (60th and MC) and he missed the cut at the Steyn City Championship in March, the week after he'd won the MyGolfLife Open.

It's impossible to ignore the claims of Adrian Otaegui. His current form figures read an impressive 3-42-34-5-2, he's finished fifth and first at Q-School here in 2014 and 2015 and he's telegraphed previous DP World Tour victories with strong incoming form.

When he won the first of his three titles - the Paul Lawrie Match Play - he did so after a fifth placed finish in the European Open and he won his second title - the Belgian Knockout - after finishing second in the China Open in his penultimate start.

He did absolutely nothing wrong on Sunday except bump into Pablo on a good day and he could well contend again.

Selections

I thought 32.031/1 was fair enough for Otaegui and I've also chanced Nicolai Hojgaard again at a juicy price.

He finished down in 71st last week once but he was going along nicely from the wrong side of the draw until he made a complete mess of the second hole (his 11th) in round one.

As good as he is, the Dane displays naivety at times and playing the exact same ball as his first when taking a provisional on the tough second hole was a perfect example of his inexperience.

As they could only find one ball, he had to assume it was his second and not his first which led to a quadruple bogey eight from which he just couldn't recover.