The DP World Tour heads from Italy to Belgium this week for the Soudal Open, held at Rinkven International Golf Club in Antwerp.
Local hero Thomas Detry is joined by countryman Nicolas Colsaerts, while Jorge Campillo looks to continue his excellent form and a host of rising stars try to get themselves into Ryder Cup contention.
If you have not done so already, you can sign up to play the official 2023 DP World Tour Fantasy game and submit your six-man team before round one gets under way on Thursday: https://fantasy.dpworldtour.com/
The 2023 season-long winner will win a trip to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next year, enjoy a lesson with a DP World Tour professional and a round of golf on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. For more information on this amazing prize and others, read here.
Favourite – Thomas Detry
In front of a home crowd, the Belgian will hope to perform well as he goes in search of an elusive DP World Tour title. Since earning his PGA TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals last summer, the 30-year-old has enjoyed three tops tens on the American-based circuit. The most recent of those was in March at the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic, where fellow Hero Cup player Matt Wallace claimed his breakthrough PGA TOUR victory. The 2016 Challenge Tour graduate is making his fourth appearance at his national Open, with his best finish coming in 2018 when he finished in a tie for third at the innovative Belgian Knockout. That too was also held at this week’s host venue which is tree-lined and bears some similarities to the West Course at Wentworth, where he finished in a share of fifth at last year’s BMW PGA Championship. Detry is the overwhelming favourite among Fantasy users, with the home star in 65 per cent of teams.
Form Horse – Jorge Campillo
Regular readers of this column will know that this marks the second consecutive week that the Spaniard features as the Form Horse. Already a winner this season in Kenya, the 36-year-old made it five consecutive top tens in Italy last week as he moved closer to sixth-placed Min Woo Lee on the season-long DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex. His eighth-place finish at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club also underlined his credentials for a Ryder Cup debut later this year, with just three places between him and an automatic qualifying spot in Luke Donald’s European team. As if his recent excellent run of results wasn’t enough to take note of, he also boasts a good record at Rinkven. Last year, he finished in the top 15, while four years earlier he finished fifth at the Belgian Knockout as stroke play was combined with match play. With all that in mind, it comes as little surprise that he is currently in almost 55 per cent of squads – second only to Detry.
Wild Card – Aaron Cockerill
The Canadian will this week be making his 12th start of the season, having ensured his DP World Tour card for 2023 at last year's Portugal Masters – the final event for players to retain their playing privileges. But while the final few weeks of that campaign may have been nervy, this time around he is in position to challenge for a debut appearance at the DP World Tour Championship later in the year. Since narrowly missing out on his maiden Tour title in a play-off to Lucas Herbert in Japan, Cockerill has finished 21st and 16th to climb to a career-high 236th on the Official World Golf Ranking. Add in the fact he has made the cut in his last five events on Tour and he is definitely one to watch as he makes his first visit to Belgium’s national Open. Surprisingly, the 2019 Challenge Tour graduate was selected in less than two per cent of teams for Japan, although players may be waking up to his form as he is currently in more than 17 per cent of squads for this week.
Looking back – DS Automobiles Italian Open
Adrian Meronk will have been a popular winner of Italy’s national Open on the outskirts of Rome for Fantasy players, with the Pole featuring in 27.25 per cent of teams and captaining 10.66 per cent. Our Favourite Victor Perez was selected by an event week high 40.49 per cent and the Rolex Series winner went on to record a top ten finish amassing a strong points haul. As mentioned earlier, Campillo will have proved an astute pick for squads as the form player on Tour finished in solo eighth. For the second week running all three of our Fantasy ones to watch made the cut, as Wild Card Scott Jamieson finished in a tie for 47th.
2023 DP World Tour Fantasy player rankings
| Player | Points |
|---|---|
| Joost Luiten | 1362 |
| Grant Forrest | 1341 |
| Matthieu Pavon | 1314 |
| Jorge Campillo | 1302 |
| Niklas Nørgaard | 1293 |
| Romain Langasque | 1279 |
| Antoine Rozner | 1207 |
| Alexander Björk | 1197 |
| Zander Lombard | 1180 |
| Rafa Cabrera Bello | 1179 |
