The Catalunya Championship is the second of back-to-back events in Spain as the DP World Tour returns to the Stadium Course at PGA Catalunya Golf and Wellness, in Girona, having undergone a sustainability-focused €1million upgrade.
Here, we profile who might be crowned champion at Spain’s Number One golf resort as players aim to move up the DP World Tour Rankings.
Sign up now and submit your six-man team before round one on Thursday: https://fantasy.dpworldtour.com/
The favourite – Pablo Larrazábal
Larrazábal continued his resurgence last week winning his second DP World Tour title in 2022 and the first of his career on home soil following a fantastic closing 62 at the ISPS Handa Championship in Spain.
The 38-year-old, now a seven-time winner on Tour, is ranked 11th in ‘Strokes Gained: Putting’ which has come to the fore this season, highlighted by the five-hole stretch from 9 to 13 in which he made consecutive birdies at Infinitum’s Lakes Course on Sunday.
In his last six starts, the Spaniard has won twice, with his other victory this season coming at the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood in South Africa and he has posted another three top ten results.
Form Horse – Adrian Otaegui
Otaegui produced a final-round 66 at the ISPS Handa Championship in Spain to finish one stroke off the pace, narrowly missing out on a fourth DP World Tour title to his name at Infinitum’s Lakes Course.
The 29-year-old finished tied fifth at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and tied third at the Ras al Khaimah Championship presented by Phoenix Capital earlier this year, moving the Spaniard to 17th in the DP World Tour Rankings and to the cusp of a return into the top 150 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Significantly, he has good memories of the PGA Catalunya resort where he was crowned co-winner of the 2015 Qualifying School Final Stage when it was staged across the new-look Stadium Course and the Tour Course.
Wild card – Antoine Rozner
Following the Steyn City Championship last month, Rozner stated he was on track to a ‘great result’ and that self-belief was well justified finishing outright fifth in Spain last week.
The Frenchman dropped seven strokes over the course of the four rounds in the first of the Spanish double header, despite challenging conditions for the players in the weather-affected tournament.
The 29-year-old, who became the fastest Frenchman to win twice on the DP World Tour last year, is ranked 15th for driving distance this season and has not missed a cut in his last five events.
