Open de Espana 2025 Betting Tips: Six to reign in Spain

After Ryder Cup star Robert MacIntyre enjoyed a triumphant return to Scotland to claim last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the DP World Tour now prepares for its last event of the year in Europe – the Open de Espana at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.

Our golf tipster Jamie Worsley, as always, is back with his long-read preview of the event and has picked out six players to back each-way this week. Check out Jamie's thoughts and his Open de Espana 2025 Betting Tips below...

TOURNAMENT HISTORY 

Dating back to 1912, the Open de Espana is one of the oldest national championships in golf. It has been an almost permanent fixture on the DP World Tour since its creation in 1972, excluding absences in 2017 and 2020.

Angel de la Torre won a record five Open de Espana titles, but they all came before the existence of the DPWT. Spanish stars have continued to dominate in the modern era, with Seve Ballesteros (1981, 1985, 1995) and Jon Rahm (2018, 2019, 2022) tied atop on three wins each.

The prestige of this historic championship is further enhanced by wins for famous names such as Arnold Palmer (1975), Bernhard Langer (1984, 1989), Nick Faldo (1987), Colin Montgomerie (1994) and Sergio Garcia (2002).

Last five winners:

• 2024

Winner: Angel Hidalgo (-14, playoff)

Runner-up: Jon Rahm (-14)

• 2023

Winner: Matthieu Pavon (-23)

Runner-up: Zander Lombard (-19)

• 2022

Winner: Jon Rahm (-25)

Runner-up: Matthieu Pavon (-19)

• 2021

Winner: Rafa Cabrera-Bello (-19, playoff)

Runner-up: Adri Arnaus (-19)

• 2019

Winner: Jon Rahm (-22)

Runner-up: Rafa Cabrera-Bello (-17)

Angel Hidalgo made it five Spanish winners in six renewals of the Open de Espana in 2024, beating Jon Rahm in a playoff to record a highly impressive wire-to-wire victory. He returns to defend this week against another dazzling group of homegrown talent.

THE COURSE

Club de Campo Villa de Madrid opened in 1956 and was designed by Javier Arana. It has hosted the Open de Espana on 10 previous occasions and has been the exclusive home of the event since 2019.

This par 71 will play at 7112 yards, possessing 4x par 3s (177-210 yards), 11x par 4s (362-505 yards) and 3x par 5s (526-564 yards). It averages a winning score of -20.6 across the last five events staged here but as we saw last year, if the wind blows it becomes a significantly tougher test.

Club de Campo is a hilly, densely tree-lined and somewhat claustrophobic course with frequent elevation changes, showcasing spectacular views of Madrid throughout.

The sloping, doglegged fairways are largely generous on the front nine, before becoming tighter on the back. Due to many being positioned at an angle to the tee box, driving accuracy percentages are often low and whilst the rough is generally tame, strategic bunkering offers significant protection.

Players must also drive the ball smartly to avoid having approaches into the small bentgrass greens blocked out by trees. These putting surfaces are predominantly narrow and contain multiple tiers. Imposing greenside bunkers guard them, with several placed short of the green, leaving players with unenviable bunker shots from awkward distances.

There are plenty of challenges here, but with a lack of penalty for errant ball-striking it's easy to see why birdies usually flow in Madrid. Each par 5 is reachable in two, and a strong drive and a wedge can get at numerous shorter par 4s. If there's nothing to deter the players within the forecast, we should expect scoring to be low.

THE WEATHER

With warm, bright and clear weather predicted all week, accompanied by little more than an 8mph breeze, this week's field couldn't ask for better conditions in Madrid.

KEY STATS

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation

Small greens usually puts a premium on high-class iron play and Club de Campo Villa de Madrid is no different.

Each of last year's top two excelled with their irons. Winner Angel Hidalgo ranked 6^th in approach and 8^th in greens-in-regulation (GIR), whilst runner-up Jon Rahm ranked 1^st in approach and 2^nd in GIR.

Matthieu Pavon ranked a solid 26^th in both areas back in 2023. He was closely followed by Zander Lombard and Nathan Kimsey in 2^nd and 3^rd, who ranked 5^th in GIR and inside the top 20 in approach.

Jon Rahm ranked inside the top 20 in each area when winning his two titles, and back in 2021, champion Rafa Cabrera-Bello ranked 5^th in approach.

• SG: Off-the-Tee and/or Driving Accuracy

The driver has proven to be another important club and although quality, lengthy hitters have enjoyed enormous success, they've rarely achieved it without also displaying accuracy.

Angel Hidalgo ranked 13^th off-the-tee (OTT) and 13^th in driving accuracy when winning in 2024. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm in 2^nd ranked 4^th OTT, balancing his ranking of 2^nd in distance with 21^st in accuracy.

The top three in 2023 were all straighter than they were long, with winner Matthieu Pavon ranking 19^th in driving accuracy, while runner-up Zander Lombard ranked 2^nd and 3^rd-place finisher Nathan Kimsey ranked 8^th.

Back to Rahm and he has ranked 3^rd (2022) and 1^st (2019) with the driver for each of his victories – combining power with precision both times.

• SG: Putting (bentgrass)

Finally, every winner since 2019 has ranked inside the top 25 on the greens and with scoring likely to be low, players who have excelled on bentgrass greens are respected.

CORRELATING EVENTS (COURSES)

Omega European Masters (Crans-sur-Sierre)

Tree-lined and hilly, with frequent and often dramatic elevation changes and small bentgrass greens, Crans-sur-Sierre is the perfect comp for this week's test.

Notable correlating form:

Adri Arnaus:

Open de Espana (2^nd, 4^th) / European Masters (6^th, 9^th)

Sean Crocker:

Open de Espana (3^rd) / European Masters (4^th)

Marcel Siem:

Open de Espana (4^th) / European Masters (2^nd, 7^th)

Fabrizio Zanotti:

Open de Espana (4^th) / European Masters (3^rd)

Edoardo Molinari:

Open de Espana (4^th) / European Masters (2^nd)

Alfredo Garcia-Heredia:

Open de Espana (6^th, 9^th) / European Masters (2^nd)

Richard Mansell:

Open de Espana (6^th) / European Masters (3^rd)

Jason Scrivener:

Open de Espana (7^th) / European Masters (4^th)

BMW PGA Championship (Wentworth Club)

Wentworth is another rolling, tree-lined course with small bentgrass greens. It ranks similarly to Club de Campo in approach and putting, whilst birdie and bogey averages are also closely matched.

Notable correlating form:

Matthieu Pavon:

Open de Espana (1^st, 2^nd) / BMW PGA (9^th)

Rafa Cabrera-Bello:

Open de Espana (1^st, 2^nd) / BMW PGA (6^th, 8^th, 9^th)

Shubhankar Sharma:

Open de Espana (3^rd) / BMW PGA (9^th)

Sean Crocker:

Open de Espana (3^rd) / BMW PGA (9^th)

Marcel Siem:

Open de Espana (4^th) / BMW PGA (7^th, 7^th)

Fabrizio Zanotti:

Open de Espana (4^th) / BMW PGA (7^th)

Marc Warren:

Open de Espana (8^th, 9^th) / BMW PGA (2^nd)

Ewen Ferguson:

Open de Espana (9^th) / BMW PGA (5^th)

BMW International Open (Golfclub Munchen Eichenried)

Golfclub Munchen Eichenried is a touch more open than this week's host but has much in common, due to its doglegging, tree-lined fairways and bentgrass greens. It also has comparable averages in most aspects from tee-to-green, and its birdie/bogey averages resemble what we see in Madrid.

Notable correlating form:

Matthieu Pavon:

Open de Espana (1^st, 2^nd) / BMW International (7^th, 10^th)

Rafa Cabrera-Bello:

Open de Espana (1^st, 2^nd) / BMW International (3^rd, 3^rd)

Edoardo Molinari:

Open de Espana (4^th) / BMW International (3^rd)

Ewen Ferguson:

Open de Espana (9^th) / BMW International (1^st)

Daniel Hillier:

Open de Espana (9^th) / BMW International (3^rd)

Indian Open (DLF Golf & Country Club – Player Course)

DLF G&CC is a course littered with striking elevation changes and provides players with a similarly difficult test off the tee.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello:

Open de Espana (1^st, 2^nd) / India (5^th)

Angel Hidalgo:

Open de Espana (1^st) / India (10^th)

Shubhankar Sharma:

Open de Espana (3^rd) / India (7^th, 13^th)

Marcel Siem:

Open de Espana (4^th) / India (1^st)

Yannik Paul:

Open de Espana (8^th) / India (2^nd, 10^th)

Soudal Open (Rinkven International)

We'll finish with host of the Soudal Open, Rinkven International. This is another tight, densely tree-lined layout, with bentgrass greens and fairways that are strategically bunkered – it also shares similar rankings with Club de Campo in ball-striking.

Notable correlating form:

Joe Dean:

Open de Espana (3^rd) / Soudal (5^th)

Sean Crocker:

Open de Espana (3^rd) / Soudal (7^th)

Darius Van Driel:

Open de Espana (8^th) / Soudal (2^nd)

Yannik Paul:

Open de Espana (8^th) / Soudal (2^nd)

Ewen Ferguson:

Open de Espana (9^th) / Soudal (2^nd)

THE FIELD

The Open de Espana has attracted another interesting field this week, with Shane Lowry the top-ranked player at No. 25, and he is accompanied by fellow Ryder Cup hero Jon Rahm.

Rahm – a three-time winner of this event in 2022, 2019 and 2018 – is one of five former winners in attendance. He is joined by reigning champion Angel Hidalgo, alongside Rafa Cabrera-Bello (2021), Thomas Aiken (2011), and Sergio Garcia (2002) – making his first start in the event since 2019.

LIV's Joaquin Niemann and Patrick Reed add additional depth to the field. Meanwhile, the home challenge is strengthened by talented youngsters Angel Ayora, David Puig and Jose Luis Ballester – the last two also arriving here from LIV.

*You can check out the latest Open de Espana 2025 Odds and bet on this event over on betfred.com

SELECTIONS

Market leaders (1/4 5 places): Jon Rahm 3/1, Joaquin Niemann 9/1, David Puig 18/1, Marco Penge 20/1, Patrick Reed 20/1, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 20/1

1.75 pts Thorbjorn Olesen each-way (1/5 - 6 places) @ 30/1

Thorbjorn Olesen is caught in a tricky situation as we approach the end of both the PGA Tour and DPWT seasons. Despite performing consistently throughout the year, he has yet to secure his place on the PGA Tour for 2026, whilst as things stand on the DPWT, he's set to miss the season-ending Tour Championship for the first time since 2021.

He has the chance to put the latter of those issues right this week and arriving in Spain with four top-20 finishes in his last six starts, he may just succeed.

Olesen has had two top-10s on the PGA Tour in 2025, finishing 5^th in the Texas Open and 7^th in the Myrtle Beach Classic. He hit a flat spot during the middle part of the season but has returned to form in recent starts, making five of six cuts, and his game appeared to be in great shape when finishing 14^th in last week's Sanderson Farms Championship.

The Dane has hit the ball strongly all season, ranking 15^th in greens-in-regulation on the PGA Tour. This strength was on display last week, as he ranked 3^rd in ball-striking, 4^th in greens-in-regulation, 6^th in approach and 7^th off-the-tee. His putter ultimately kept him out of contention, but this is an area in which he typically excels, ranking 31^st in the U.S. this year.

Olesen suffered a missed cut on his Club de Campo debut in 2021, though he was wildly out of form at the time. He was much better upon his return in 2023, finishing 17^th, and as a player who has finished 3^rd in the Soudal Open and 6^th in India in recent years, I have no doubt he has the game to contend in Madrid.

1 pt Richard Mansell each-way (1/5 - 6 places) @ 60/1

Richard Mansell is a player who often performs well in Spain, including finishing 6^th on his debut here in 2023. His form has been inconsistent of late, but it’s easy to find positivity amongst it and as one of the strongest drivers in the field, I’m keen to get him back on side this week.

Mansell earned his first DP World Tour victory in the Singapore Classic in March, and after weeks of solid yet unspectacular performances, he finally recorded his second top-10 of the season at the European Masters four starts ago, finishing 6^th. He comes to Madrid off the back of a 15^th-place finish in the Dunhill Links, where he shot under par in each round in testing conditions.

He excels with the driver, ranking 20^th on the DPWT for the season and 9^th across the last three months. His iron play has displayed promising signs of late and with his best putting performance of the season coming on the small bentgrass surfaces at Crans-sur-Sierre, there are reasons aplenty to be confident.

Mansell fired four rounds in the 60s to finish 6^th at Club de Campo in 2023 and was solid enough last year, finishing 45^th – gaining strokes with the putter on each occasion. He’s picked up 3^rd and 6^th-place finishes in the European Masters and further excelling himself in Spain when 2^nd in the 2020 Challenge de Espana on the HotelPlanner Tour, and 3^rd in the 2023 Andalucia Masters, this is clearly a part of the world in which he feels comfortable.

1 pt Thriston Lawrence each-way (1/5 - 8 places) @ 66/1

Thriston Lawrence is a player who can catch fire at any time, as he showed when winning his second European Masters title at the end of August. That was his fifth DPWT win in under four years and having hit the ball well on the PGA Tour last week, he looks overpriced here.

The reason for the larger price is that Lawrence has only recorded one top-40 finish during his last 10 starts. That result, however, came courtesy of a victory at Crans, where the 54-hole leader recovered from a poor bogey-bogey-bogey start to shoot four-under on the day and win a shade cosily by two shots.

He followed that with two missed cuts in Ireland and at Wentworth, but he looked solid enough in the Sanderson Farms Championship, finishing 48^th thanks to a top-20 approach display.

More to the point, Lawrence’s win in Switzerland among otherwise poor form was not a one off. He won the BMW International Open in 2023 having missed three of his previous four cuts and after failing to record a previous top-25 finish that season.

The South African simply doesn’t need to be showing much to win on a suitable layout. Although his form figures here of MC–41 don’t exactly jump off the page, he is a two-time winner at Crans, a BMW International Open champion, and a runner-up at Wentworth – suggesting that he’s more than capable of adding an Open de Espana trophy to his cabinet.

1 pt Rafa Cabrera-Bello each-way (1/5 - 8 places) @ 100/1

There are few nationalities with as much passion for their national open as the Spanish. I’m going to lean on that home pride with two former winners here who have both shown form of late, starting with Rafa Cabrera-Bello.

Rafa is currently enjoying one of his most consistent periods of golf for several years. He’s made 14 of his last 17 cuts and just three starts ago in the Irish Open he finished 3^rd – his best result since the 2022 Abu Dhabi Championship.

He did follow that with a disappointing missed cut in France. However, he responded positively last week, firing rounds of 66 at St Andrews and 67 at Kingsbarns, either side of enduring an understandably tough time at Carnoustie in round two, shooting a 76.

His recent resurgence is a result approach displays akin to what he produced at his best, ranking 20^th in this field over the previous three months. He continues to thrive on the greens, ranking 31^st for the season and with the driver under better control, he should be relishing this trip to Club de Campo.

Indeed, this is a course at which Cabrera-Bello finished 2^nd and 1^st on his first two visits in 2019 and 2021. He hasn’t fared too well since, missing two cuts and finishing 64^th in 2023, but with his long game in considerably better shape this time around, I expect him to turn back the years in Madrid.

1 pt Angel Hidalgo each-way (1/5 - 8 places) @ 110/1

Angel Hidalgo arrives for his title defence having played his best golf of the season over the last month and a half, where his ball-striking has been especially promising. He has the perfect personality and mentality to not only handle the pressure of returning as a reigning champion but to absolutely thrive in the situation.

Hidalgo only recorded one top-20 finish over the first six-and-a-half months of the season, but he has since picked up two in his last six starts. The first of these came when he was 13^th at The Belfry in the British Masters and just four starts ago he finished 3^rd alongside Cabrera-Bello in the Irish Open.

His approach play was one of the key contributors to his result at the K Club and he’s displayed sustained quality in this area over his recent run, ranking 22^nd in this field. He’s also 28^th off-the-tee over the same period and gaining strokes in three of his last four starts on the greens, it feels as though his game is peaking at just the right time.

Hidalgo showed promise on his debut here in 2022, finishing 34^th, and though missing the cut in 2023 he bounced back emphatically last year, with his playoff victory over Jon Rahm overflowing with guts and determination. He now has the opportunity to repeat Rahm’s feat of recording back-to-back victories – which he did in 2018 and 2019 – and, all things considered, this exciting and passionate player looks value to do so.

1 pt Martin Couvra each-way (1/5 - 8 places) @ 110/1

Having taken down the Turkish Airlines Open in May, French rookie Martin Couvra was one of the standout performers in the first half of the year on the DPWT. He has lost his way over the next three months, but signs were extremely positive at Wentworth two starts ago and as an elite iron player, he holds huge appeal at this price.

Couvra hit the top-10 on six occasions across his first 13 starts in 2025, and just three starts following his win in Turkey he almost doubled up for the year, finishing 2^nd in the Italian Open.

His form has dropped off since then, missing five of his last eight cuts. However, a 13^th-place finish on his BMW PGA Championship debut a month ago was extremely impressive. Although he didn’t quite back that up when 62^nd in the Open de France, we now get him at close to double that price.

The talented youngster is one of the top iron players in this field, ranking 10^th in 2025. It’s also been encouraging to see the driver under greater control of late and whilst the putter wouldn’t be described as a strength of his, he did putt soundly on the similar bentgrass surfaces at Wentworth.

Couvra will make his debut at Club de Campo this week but that effort in the BMW PGA certainly bodes well. Furthermore, he is no stranger to winning in Spain, having recorded his first win in a professional event at the Challenge de Espana on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2023.

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