ISPS Handa Championship in Spain Predictions, Picks, Odds

The European Tour was rebranded as the DP World Tour last year and the latter seems a truer reflection.

Why? This the first tournament to be played on European soil since November’s Portugal Masters.

Since then we’ve had jaunts through the Middle East, South Africa and Kenya while the two most recent events were the co-sanctioned WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play and The Masters in America.

Only the elite qualified for the latter two so this week gives the DP World Tour’s rank and file the first opportunity to tee it up in nearly a month.

The tournament is a new one but the venue is not.

The Infintium Club in Tarragona, a coastal city 60 miles south of Barcelona, is well known to plenty of this week’s field as it staged Q-School from 2017 to 2019.

The venue was called Lumine Golf Club back then and the 108 holes of Q-School were split between the Lakes Course and the Hills Course.

This week, we’re on The Lakes, a Greg Norman design that measures in as a short 6,963-yard par 70.

Somewhat unusually, the only two par 5s on the course come right at the end: the 595-yard 16th and the 539-yard 18th.

This is the first of two back-to-back tournaments in Spain before the DP World Tour heads to the former Ryder Cup venue, The Belfry, for the Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett.

Rasmus’s Turn for Glory

Denmark’s Hojgaard twins have been tearing it up on the DP World Tour over the last couple of seasons.

The 20-year-olds have shared five wins from less than 100 combined starts and have shown nerves of steel down the stretch.

Nicolai has won the last three but this time I’m going to side with Rasmus Hojgaard.

There are two obvious but compelling reasons for that: course form and current form.

The brothers have been trying their luck on the PGA Tour in recent times but it hasn’t quite worked out for Nicolai, who missed cuts at the Honda Classic, Arnold Palmer Invitational and Corales Puntacana.

But Rasmus did enjoy his American adventure after finishing sixth at the Corales Puntacana and 18th in the Texas Open the week before The Masters.

In addition, Rasmus has good memories of this week’s venue having come through Q-School there. That was thanks to the fifth place in 2019 as he became the first player born in the 2000s to make it through.

Not only that, he played a Nordic Golf League tournament there in 2019 and finished sixth.

That forms part of a strong record on Spanish soil which includes a runner-up finish at the second tier’s Challenge de Espana.

With his putter hot (he ranked 2nd for Strokes Gained: Putting at the Texas Open), Rasmus can land the win at +1800 with Caesars Sportsbook.

Canter Can Outscore Pavon

Last week’s 72-hole match bet landed again as Si Woo Kim (T42) took down Chris Kirk (MC).

This time I’m taking an Englishman to beat a Frenchman.

Laurie Canter will have noted this week’s venue down on his schedule as he has happy memories of The Lakes.

The Englishman twice came through Q-School there, securing his card with fifth place in 2019 and 12th in 2017.

The last time he pegged it up, Canter posted tied 12th in the Qatar Masters and that built on two top 25s in his three previous starts. That’s consistent form.

Pavon deserves respect but tied 27th and tied 48th in his last two tournaments suggest a slight dip and his form in Spain (20-41-MC-27-63) is modest compared to Canter, who has a pair of top fives there on his latest two visits.

Back Canter to win their 72-hole match at -110 (bet365).

Winther for a Top 20

Continuing the Q-School theme, the man with the best record at The Lakes when it staged those six-round marathons is Jeff Winther.

The Dane finished tied second in 2017, lost his card, and then secured his playing privileges again with tied third the following year.

His chance takes another leap forward with the knowledge that Winther won the Mallorca Golf Open on his last trip to Spain in October.

That followed on from a third place in the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open last April so it’s a part of Europe he loves competing in.

Winther was sixth in Abu Dhabi on his first start of 2022 and although he hasn’t done anything in three starts since this looks a great chance to have a decent week.