The DP World Tour revisits Spain this week for the Open de España presented by Madrid. Here are your five things to know.
Crunch time as season end looms
It is back to mainland Europe as the Back 9 continues, with the stakes only rising as the season draws towards a crescendo. With just visits to India and South Korea to follow in the regular season, there is much to be played for in the battle to win the Race to Dubai, claim places in the DP World Tour Play-Offs, playing privileges for 2027 and earn dual membership with the PGA Tour. At the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World, Patrick Reed leads the way with an exciting run-in to the campaign in store. At the end of the Back 9 later this month, the top 70 qualifying players on the Race to Dubai will head to the Play-Offs and battle it out in Abu Dhabi to secure enough points to be among the top 50 available players who advance to Dubai for the season finale, the DP World Tour Championship. The Genesis Championship in South Korea later this month will be the last chance for players to get into the top 100 on the Rankings and secure Category 10 status for 2027 and the ability to play an almost full schedule. The top ten players not otherwise exempt from the season-long standings after Dubai will earn playing rights stateside next year. With a $3.75 million prize fund at play, valuable Race to Dubai points and Team Europe Ryder Cup qualifying points on offer, it is all to play for in Madrid.
Inside the field
A star-studded array of international talent has made the trip to the Spanish capital. Headlined by former World Number One Jon Rahm, who intends to play pending the imminent birth of his fourth child, fellow Major champions Reed, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Francesco Molinari, Danny Willett, Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia laos tee it up. There are five members of the 2025 European Ryder Cup team, with Rahm, Rose and Lowry joined by Tyrrell Hatton and Ludvig Åberg, with the latter making his event debut. Home hopes extend beyond Rahm, with 21 Spaniards in action including Eugenio Chacarra, a two-time winner this season, rising stars Angel Ayora and David Puig, and 2024 winner Angel Hidalgo. Following victory for Adrian Meronk at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the weekend, there are 19 winners from the season so far in action. Five of the top ten on the Race to Dubai are competing with Jayden Schaper, Andy Sullivan and Jacob Skov Olesen joining Reed and Chacarra. At the other end, 2023 Ryder Cup player Nicolai Højgaard and English fan favourite Eddie Pepperell need of points as they come into the week in 100th and 101st place respectively. After his dream Alfred Dunhill Links Championship debut, Michael Stewart makes it back-to-back DP World Tour starts as he prioritises a trip to compete in the Spanish capital over a planned return to the Tartan Pro Tour.
Penge defends
Last year, Marco Penge made it a hat-trick of titles in a breakthrough season on the DP World Tour with a play-off victory against fellow Englishman Daniel Brown. The leader by four ahead of the final round, the 2023 Road to Mallorca Rankings winner shot a level-par 72 to finish at 15 under, which was matched after a 67 for playing partner Brown before Penge made a birdie on the first replaying of the drivable 18th. The win followed prior triumphs at the Hainan Classic and the Danish Golf Championship as he pushed Rory McIlroy hard in the Race to Dubai before finishing second to earn dual membership with the PGA Tour. Illness and injury have limited Penge’s development this year, but despite those troubles he still has registered four top-ten finishes worldwide, the latest of which came stateside last month.
Major spots on offer
Victory in one of continental Europe’s oldest national opens comes with the added bonus of a spot into the Masters Tournament, with Penge the first beneficiary last year. As part of the change to qualification criteria announced by Augusta National and The R&A in August, this week’s champion will earn an invite to Augusta National while the leading player not otherwise exempt will earn a spot at The Open through The Open Qualifying Series. After the FedEx Open de France, where runner-up Hidalgo sealed his shot at winning the Claret Jug next summer, it is the second of 19 events in 15 countries across the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour, KPGA Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour and Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia which offer a pathway to The 155th Open at St Andrews. In this week's field, Åberg, Hidalgo, Lowry, Molinari, Alex Noren, Rahm and Rose are already exempt for The Open, while Åberg, Garcia, Hatton, Rahm, Rose, Watson and Willett are already assured of spots at the Masters.
Tournament history
First held in 1912, Spain's national open is the third-oldest golf tournament in Europe and was the founding event on the DP World Tour's inaugural season in 1972. Since then, it has been held in all but two years (2017 and 2020), with winners including Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Sir Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance and Pádraig Harrington. It is the 16th and final national open of the 2026 Race to Dubai season, coming up shortly after similar events in Switzerland, Ireland and France earlier in the Back 9.
