Five matches you won’t want to miss on day one of the ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid:
9:30 *: Jon Rahm, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Yannik Paul.
The star match on day one could not be any other than that of Jon Rahm, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Germany’s Yannik Paul. The two most recent champions of the Open de España will share their group with the 2022 Mallorca Golf Open champion, who was also on the verge of qualification for the 2023 Ryder Cup (highest non-qualifier in the European ranking). These three clear contenders for the title will be battling it out tomorrow morning to climb to the top of the leaderboard.
14:00 Justin Rose, Victor Perez and Jorge Campillo.
Justin Rose, the 2013 US Open champion and recent Ryder Cup winner, will take to the tee in the afternoon session to make his bow at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. After a stellar performance for Team Europe in Rome, Rose will be bidding for his first Open de España title. The Englishman will play alongside Spaniard Jorge Campillo, who is gunning for his second triumph of the season, and Frenchman Victor Perez, champion of this year’s Rolex Series event in Abu Dhabi.
9:10 *: Nacho Elvira, Marcel Siem and Alex Fitzpatrick.
After an impressive second place finish two months ago in Denmark, where only Rasmus Højgaard stood between him and victory in a dramatic playoff, Nacho Elvira arrives in Madrid intent on being one of the tournament’s surprise packages. Last week in Scotland, he fired two low rounds that gave him a great chance of victory on the third and final day. The eventual winner was none other than the brother of Alex Fitzpatrick, who comes to Madrid in search of his first win on the DP World Tour in a year in which he has secured his card for next season for the first time. The third member of their group will be Marcel Siem, who produced one of the stories of the season in India, when he claimed his first win for nine years.
9:40 * Adrián Otaegui, Romain Langasque and Edoardo Molinari.
Adrián ‘The Pirate’ Otaegui is seeking his first Open de España title in Madrid and his second title on home soil after a stunning victory in Valderrama last year. He will be joined by Frenchman Langasque and Ryder Cup stat-man and vice-captain ‘Dodo Molinari’.
Can Club de Campo provide Adri Otaegui with his first win of the year?
13:50 Pablo Larrazábal, Thriston Lawrence and Thorbjørn Olesen.
With four victories in the last 19 months, Pablo Larrazábal is enjoying something of a second youth. Tomorrow he will be back at the Open de España. After coming close to the Ryder Cup team and now without that pressure on his shoulders, the Catalonian player only has one thing on his mind; winning his first title from his home Open. He will be joined on day one and two by Thriston Lawrence, who also has four wins to his name in less than two years, and the Danish Thorbjørn Olesen who won in Thailand early in the season.
There will also be plenty of other big names to follow on day one of the ACCIONA Open de España such as Tom McKibbin and Adri Arnaus who tee off together at 09:20, and Spanish amateurs Angel Ayora and Luis Masaveu. 2010 champion, Álvaro Quirós, will tee it up with James Morrison and Simon Forsstrom.
