The tee times for the opening days of the 2019 Open de España at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid have been announced. Jon Rahm, the defending champion and number 2 in the Race to Dubai, will be accompanied by two big stars in his first two rounds: Rafa Cabrera-Bello, another of the biggest Spanish names (3 European Tour titles), and Adriá Arnaus, one of the year’s surprise packages. The three of them will tee off on the tenth on Thursday at 0930 and at 14:00 on Friday, this time from the 1st.
For his part, Sergio Garcia will be kicking off his Open de España at 14:00 on Thursday on the 1st hole. The ex-US Masters champion will be playing alongside Jorge Campillo (claimed his first European Tour victory this year) and Chinese player Haotong Li (the first golfer from his country to reach the Top 50 in the world). The same group will tee it up on Thursday at 09:20 on the 10th tee.
There will also be two Spaniards in Thursday’s 09:20 group, which tees off on the back nine (then at 13:50 on Friday from the front). José María Olazábal, another of the home players to have majors under his belt, will be in the same group as Pablo Larrazábal, who has 4 European Tour victories to his name. Italian player Andrea Pavan, who boasts 2 of his own, completes the threeball.
Another mouth-watering combination for the home fans will head out at 15:30 on Thursday from the 1st tee (then 09:10 on Friday from the 10th). Miguel Ángel Jiménez, who has no fewer than 21 European Tour trophies in his cabinet, will be attempting to break his own record as the oldest winner of the Open de España. He will be joined by Alvaro Quirós, one of the tour’s biggest hitters (7 victories in Europe), and hugely promising US player Julian Suri (1 European Tour title).
Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, who is playing at his home course and has 7 European Tour titles to his name, will be partnered by the Swedish Alexander Björk (1 European Tour victory) and South Korean player Jeunghun Wang (3) at 13:40 on Thursday, starting on the 1st (then 09:00 on Friday from the 10th).
Paul Dunne will be one of the biggest international attractions at the Open de España. The Irishman, whose only European Tour victory came at the 2017 British Masters, will play with the Italian Edoardo Molinari (3 European Tour titles) and Frenchman Alexander Levy (5 European Tour victories). The threeball will start their campaigns on Thursday at 09:50 from the 10th and continue on Friday at 14:20 from the 1st.
There are also plenty of foreign stars worth keeping an eye out for. Englishman Ross Fisher (5 victories on the European Tour), will tee it up with two exciting prospects, the American David Lipsky and Spaniard Adrián Otaegui (1st tee, 14:10 on Thursday, 10th tee, 09:30 on Friday). Belgian bomber Nicolas Colsaerts will start his Open de España campaign alongside the Indian Gaganjeet Bhullar (1 European Tour victory) and Japanese player Masahiro Kawamura (10:00 on Thursday from the 10th, 14:30 on Friday from the 1st).
See all the tee times for the first day here.
