Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship: Spanish Pair chanced at 69/1

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Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship History

Adri Arnaus beat Oliver Bekker at the Stadium Course at the PGA Catalunya Resort Course in a playoff in what was described as a one-off event called the Catalunya Championship in 2021. An event that was only staged to replace the cancelled China Open.

That would suggest that this is the second edition but it's been billed as the inaugural edition of the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship and there's no mention of the 2021 event on the DP World Tour website.

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Venue

Real Club de Golf El Prat, Barcelona, Spain

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Course Details

Rosa/Pink Course
Par 72, 7,057 yards

The Real Club de Golf El Prat dates all the way back to 1912 and it hosted eight editions of the Open de Espana before the turn of the century.

The club was forced to move to a new location in 1954 due to the expansion of Barcelona, and it was on the move again in 1997 due to the expansion of Barcelona Airport.

Designed by Greg Norman and opened in 2003, Real Club de Golf El Prat is now an impressive 45-hole complex, arranged into five nine- hole loops.

The venue was used for the Open De Espana prior to the renovation in 1998 and '99 and it was also used for a couple of editions of the Peugeot Challenge on the HotelPlanner Tour after the Norman renovation, but more than 20 years ago.

Real Club de Golf El Prat was last used on the DP World Tour for the Open de Espana in both 2011 and 2015, when an 18-hole composite course was used called the Blue Course configuration, which was a composite of the "Abajo" and "Arriba" nines.

For this event, the Rosa Course configuration is going to be used and that's made up of the "Bosque" and "Arriba" nines so the back nine is the same nine used for the two editions of the Open de Espana but the front nine hasn't been used before on the DP World Tour.

The Rosa Course is around 200 yards shorter than the old Blue Course used in 2011 and 2015 and it's two nines are quite different.

The front nine is described as tree-lined and tight, demanding a high level of accuracy, and the back nine is more open, rolling, with elevation changes and panoramic views.

There are a couple of lakes on the course, but water only really comes in to play on the par four 16^th.

The Bentgrass greens are multi-layered, challenging and with some steep run offs.

The Real Club de Golf El Prat's website has a detailed hole-by-hole guide to the Rosa Course here.

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Weather Forecast

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TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 12:30 on Thursday

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Open de Espana results at Real Club de Golf El Prat

As highlighted above, a different front nine is being used for this event so looking back at the two editions of the Open de Espana will only have limited use but for what it's worth, here's the top three and ties from 2011 and 2015.

 (Key: DD - Driving Distance; DA - Driving Accuracy; GIR - Greens in Regulation; SC - Scrambling; PA - Putting Average) 

2011
Thomas Aiken -10 - DD: 4, DA: 59, GIR: 16, SC: 2, PA: 16 
Anders Hansen -8 - DD: 27, DA: 1, GIR: 8, SC: 8, PA: 11 
Scott Jamieson -7 - DD: 9, DA: 24, GIR: 4, SC: 25, PA: 17
Pablo Larazabal -7 - DD: 32, DA: 30, GIR: 3, SC: 21, PA: 24 

2015
James Morrison -10 - DD: 40, DA: 7, GIR: 5, SC: 17, PA: 12 
Edouard Espana -6 - DD: 12, DA: 4, GIR: 14, SC: 7, PA: 47
David Howell -6 - DD: 49, DA: 44, GIR: 35, SC: 1, PA: 8
Miguel Angel Jimenez -6 - DD: 27, DA: 21, GIR: 22, SC: 23, PA: 8
Francesco Molinari -6 - DD: 43, DA: 66, GIR: 14, SC: 29, PA: 20

Only the winners reached double-digits under-par in each of the two editions of the Open de Espana here (and only just), and the front nine looks as though it will be trickier this time around, suggesting we won't be witnessing a birdiefest.

How much credence we give the stats is highly debatable but for what it's worth, finding greens with regularity and scrambling well when they're missed has been important.

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Will German form provide clues?

Form at tree-lined Golfclub München Eichenried, which hosts the BMW International Open, came to the fore in both 2011 and 2015 so that may be a good place to start.

The 2011 runner-up, Anders Hansen, was fourth at Golfclub München Eichenried a year before losing a playoff to Martin Kaymer there in 2008, and Scott Jamieson finished third there one month after finishing third here.

The man alongside Jamieson in a tie for third, Pablo Larrzabal, is a two-time winner at the Munich layout and back in a tie for fifth was the 2010 Golfclub München Eichenried winner, David Horsey.

Like the 2011 winner, Thomas Aiken, the 2015 El Prat winner, James Morrison, doesn't have an abundance of form at Golfclub München Eichenried but he led there by two with a round to go in 2015 before tumbling down the leaderboard on Sunday to finish 11^th and he was 40^th there in 2024 having sat inside the top 10 with 18 to play.

David Howell, who finished tied second, won in Munich in 2005, a year after the man alongside him at El Prat, Miguel Angel Jimenez, had won there.

Thomas Bjorn, who won at the Munich layout a couple of times, as well as placing there a few times, won the Open de Espana here too, but that was prior to Norman's overhaul in 2003 so whether we can count that one or not is debatable but in an inaugural event with not much to go on, form at Golfclub München Eichenried may be something to look at.

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Spaniards enjoy the comforts of home

The only DP World Tour event on Spanish soil in 2025, the Open de Espana, went to a playoff contested by a pair of Englishmen, Marco Penge and Dan Brown, but prior to that, a Spaniard had won six of the 12 previous DP World Tour events staged, and during that time, three Spaniards - Jorge Campillo, Jon Rahm and Adri Arnous -  all lost in a playoff.

The Spanish clearly enjoy playing at home so playing one of home contingent may well pay dividends.

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Spanish pair chanced

Last week's 160.0159/1 Find Me a 100 Winner fancy, Guido Migliozzi, is tough to dismiss after his tied second in Turkey.

He should enjoy the venue this week but it's a hard to take a price that's just a quarter of that taken last week around a venue I was confident he'd enjoy so I've reluctantly left him out in favour of a pair of Spaniards that the market is more dismissive of - Adrian Otaegui and Jorge Campillo.

As highlighted above, the Spanish have a fine record in their homeland and Otaegui is looking to win here for the second time, having won the Andalucía Masters at Valderrama back in 2022.

The 33-year-old who was born in San Sebastian but now represents the UAE also finished second in Spain in 2022 in the once only staged ISPS Handa Championship in Spain so he enjoys playing here and he looks a fair price at 70.069/1, despite closing last week's event with a nine-over par 81!

Otaegui is a five-time winner on the DP World Tour so it's unlikely he's that interested in where he finishes down the field when he's without a chance of success and that's the second time that he's closed with a round in the 80s when out of the running recently.

After finishing sixth in both the South African Open and the Joburg Open, and third in the Hainan Classic, Otaegui shot 84 in round four of the Indian Open at the end of March.

That was a woeful finish but in his very next start he finished second in the China Open where he was matched at just 1.152/13 when he led by three at the turn on Sunday so last week's disappointing 76^th place finish is perfectly understandable.

His general form his strong, and he's already won in Spain, so I was happy to chance him modestly.

Jorge Campillo hasn't won in his homeland, but he lost a playoff at the Andalucía Masters two years ago at the ninth extra hole and he finished seventh here in the Open de Espana back in 2015.

The three-time DP World Tour winner has missed his last two cuts but he's a bit of an in-and-out performer and he was second in the Hainan Classic last month having been third for the lead with a round to go.

He finished third at Golfclub München Eichenried in 2021 when not in great form so that's a plus and he too looks a fair price at 69/170.00 on the Betfair Exchange.

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