Among the longest-running national opens in world golf, the Soudal Open celebrates its 20th staging since becoming part of the DP World Tour this week.
First played in 1910, the tournament boasts a rich history and was first won by Arnaud Massy, the only Frenchman to win a Major Championship.
This week marks its 58th edition overall as it forms part of the ongoing European Swing on the 2026 Race to Dubai schedule.
Belgium’s Flory van Donck is the most successful player in the event’s history, winning on five occasions between 1939 and 1956, while Sir Henry Cotton, after whom the DP World Tour’s Rookie of the Year Award is named, is a three-time champion.
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Added to the DP World Tour’s Global Schedule in 1978, six years after the Tour's inception and following a 20-year hiatus, it has since been won by world-renowned Major champions Sir Nick Faldo, José María Olazábal and Darren Clarke.
After an 18-year absence, it was reborn in 2018 as the Belgian Knockout, an innovative format combining strokeplay followed by knockout strokeplay, which was staged for two years at Rinkven International Golf Club.
While the Covid-19 pandemic would result in no event being held in 2020 and 2021, the tournament returned to its traditional 72-hole strokplay format in 2022 and will remain on the DP World Tour for at least another year after a new three-year extension was signed in 2024.
Last year, Kristoffer Reitan became the 44th different player in the event’s history to win the title and the third first-time DP World Tour winner out of the last four editions, following on from Sam Horsfield and Simon Forsström in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
This year sees Rinkven, which is hosting for a seventh successive edition, play host to a 156-player field with a $2,750,000 million prize fund.
