Andrew's Challenge de Espana (HPT) Preview - with added IS Japan and Zimbabwe Open coverage!

Something of a relief that the Korn Ferry Tour take a week off, as many of the elite on the tour are heading to Myrtle Beach for the opposite field event; a much better arrangement than we saw when the LECOM clashed with Corales Puntacana and both turned out ordinary fields. It also means that I can focus on the Hotel Planner Tour, as well as touching on a couple of other tournaments – more on that later. 

It was a frustrating week for the picks in the KFT last week, with just a chopped place on first round leader (hope you took that) Mitchell Meissner, and my other selections looking solid but never threatening. I couldn’t have had the winner or runner-up on my mind and after a couple of weeks of unsurprising winners I guess we were due a shock – it is a tricky tour to predict. Back to the HPT we go!

The Tournament

We’re in Europe in spring for the start of the HPT season proper, and this is a venerable event by HPT standards, the Challenge de Espana. The name is venerable, but the event… well, it moves all over the calendar and all over Spain. We’re much earlier in the year than normal, and we’re at a new course. We’ll return to Spain after a week in Denmark (no, I don’t understand either) and will also be back for the Grand Final on Mallorca in October. 

The new course is Fontanals, in the foothills of the Pyrenees (and thus at around 1,000m of altitude) inland from Barcelona and very close to the French border. This is a new tournament event but it’ll be known to a surprising number of participants, as for the last couple of years it has hosted the second stage of Q-school for around a quarter of participants. To save you a lot of digging, here are the 2023 and 2024 leaderboards. 

Weather will be very different from previous stints – this isn’t India, South Africa or the Middle East, this is mountainous Europe in May. The good news is that there won’t be much wind. The bad news is that it’ll be raining most afternoons and bloody freezing. Looks like they’ll get through all four rounds but they might be playing a bunch on Saturday and will hopefully go out early on Sunday. But this isn’t dome golf and all my players are from local or nastier climes.

A 7,088 par-71 with two of the three par-fives playing over 600 yards and lots of small drainage ditches and water hazards, this is a course designed more for strategy than for overpowering. Strong approach play, good thinking and controlled aggression (and ideally course experience) as well as effective putting will all be key here. That said, the two winners at Q-school, Haydyn Barron and Hamish Brown, are notable bombers so some pop off-the-tee clearly is valuable.

Something that will come up again and again in these previews now we’re in Europe is the importance, particularly at this level, of playing “home” events. Of course local support helps, as does a common language with organisers on a tour with many, but I think the reasons are broader. This is a world of fine margins, where familiarity with food, being able to sleep at home and see family, and familiarity with the sorts of courses and agronomy are often decisive. 

With that in mind, I was hopeful that Albert Boneta would choose to play here rather than heading for Turkey, but as a DPWT card holder he’s quite rightly headed over there. I was more confident that Sebastian Garcia would turn up, but he too is in Turkey. One who is here is LIV player Luis Masaveu, currently rather struggling on LIV in a debut year for the Fireballs but in a much shallower pond. He’s also been here before, shooting -12 for a share of 15th despite picking up a snowman on the par-4 18th in his second round. He probably leads the home contingent but at 14/1 you couldn’t say the market has missed him, and I think it’ll be hard for him to come here fully motivated and back to his best straight after Korea. At a longer price, though, I’d be all over him. 

It’s a similar story for his more experienced compatriot Borja Virto (28/1, sixth here last year and twice a Challenge Tour winner, albeit in 2015.) I’m getting increasingly worried about opposing Renato Paratore but I’m going to do so again, purely on grounds of price and lack of course experience. If he does win, at least he’ll get a battlefield promotion and I can stop worrying about him. Josh Berry combines recent form with course form and is another serious threat.

Selections

Four players do make the team and they’re a mixed crew. Starting with a home player, Quim Vidal is priced as though his win in Delhi was chance. I don’t see it that way. That was a slightly longer course (well, it was the same length and to par 72, but it was at sea level) and again a second shot, modern resort golf course. We’re also not too far from Barcelona, home to the Catalan-speaking Vidal. As well as coming home as a recent winner, he can boast incredibly consistent form for a young man – that win was one of 11 top-20 finishes on the last two years on this tour. Before that he went nicely in the Alps Tour to win his way here, and played college golf at Nevada and Jacksonville State to a decent standard. He’s also got to know Fontanals, finishing 19th here in 2023 in his first year as a professional. He went 74/71/67/69 to make the final stage of qualifying on the number which is an impressive turnaround over the final two rounds. 

My other pick at a shortish price is Oihan Guillamoundeguy, one of my favourite players on the tour and, despite the French flag, another local boy – he’s from the French Basque Country, just over the border and on the Bay of Biscay. After a weakish start to the season (other than a ninth in MyGolfLife Open in South Africa, he was poor) he returned to something like form with a 22nd in Delhi and a fourth in the UAE Challenge on another watery course. He’s another Alps tour graduate who has played some of his best golf in Spain and a win isn’t far away for this absurdly talented twenty-year old. I’ve just been waiting for a flash of form to start backing him again and at a course that will suit I’m ready to pull the trigger.

Turning to longer prices, Martin Simonsen is a slightly older selection, the 33-year-old Dane was a winner on this tour in 2022 and this year is bidding to win a DPWT card for the third time. He’s clearly been found wanting at the next level up but is competitive in HPT fields (he was 17th in Kolkata this season) and is showing signs of returning to his best. At a different course he was second in this event in 2019 (behind Antoine Rozner and alongside Rasmus Hojgaard, with Adrian Meronk and Laurie Canter one and two shots behind – honestly, I love this Tour) and was tenth here in 2023 Q-school. His experience and nous can only help.

The last pick I’ll list was the first pick I made, and someone I’ve been waiting to back since the day the last tournament finished three weeks ago; he went straight into my phone notes for this very moment. James Meyer de Beco is an absurd price with Unibet currently. In 2023 he came here for qualifying and finished 36th at the age of 22. Impressive enough, but when I tell you he made five doubles and eight bogeys you’ll realise how much he did that was good. We don’t have to anticipate him returning and ironing out the errors, though – he already has. In 2024 he was ninth (ahead of Masaveu) with just four bogeys and no other blemishes on a -13 card. Three times a winner on the Pro Golf Tour last year he’s newly arrived on the HPT but picked up a 20th in the UAE among his two starts. I was really hoping to get 100/1 and would have baked him at 66/1, so I was delighted to take the odds available.

IS Japan

So, I mentioned other tours. Just trying out a bit of additional content here – do let me know on Discord or X if you think this is helpful or a waste of time. I realise that there’s a lot of golf but these events will give some interest and are at different times of the day/night. Put them together with the rest of the tips on the site and you can be sweating for 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday. What could be nicer?

The International Series returns and makes a first trip to Japan, and with the bulk of the LIV elite preparing for Quail Hollow there are fewer of those players to be concerned about. The market is, rightly, led by Lucas Herbert, who has been on smashing form both on the LIV tour and in starts in New Zealand, Macau and twice in Australia across three other tours as he attempts to bolster his world ranking. That said, he’s too short for me and I fear won’t be accurate enough with his irons to justify the price. 

With all that in mind, what are we looking for? Well, information is typically hard to come by, but this is a first tournament at a well-regarded course to the seaward side of Tokyo Bay (that is, east of the capital.) We’re potentially looking at a disrupted tournament; after two peaceful days you can expect rain and some wind on Saturday, and serous wind on Sunday. So being able to play in tough conditions is again a plus. This is a J Michael Poellot design, and he’s heavily influenced by Augusta and has filled South East Asia with courses with well-manicured, water lined greens and lots of use made of elevation changes. It seems that fairways are wide but there are bunkers as well as water around many of the greens and greens throughout, as well as a number of forced doglegs. Player reviews suggest that this will play longer than the advertised 7,116 yards (par-71, three par fives including the short finishing hole.)

I’ve gone looking for players who are tidy from tee-to-green and who putt well, and I’m starting with the form player in Japan so far this season, Tatsunori Shogenji. He has won and finished fourth and sixth in his last three starts, leads the Japanese Tour in all-round ranking and is second in the order of merit. He’s third in greens in regulation and 14th in scoring average. He’s also (and I make this reference every time I use the Japan Golf Tour website because I love the trivia) blood type O. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice. I’m backing him up with another “feeder tour” order of merit leader, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, who tops the Indian Tour merit list after winning two-of-his-six starts and finishing top five in three more (and 13th in the sixth.) He’s also shown signs of competing at this level with a 26th in the IS Macau. He’s a young man who is accurate from tee to green and is being overlooked in the market.

Zimbabwe Open

Finally, let’s have a quick look at my beloved Sunshine Tour, which leaves South Africa and heads north for the Zimbabwe Open, held at Royal Harare Golf Club. This is the highest-ranked golf club in Zimbabwe, in rather the same way as I’m the person in my family who can grow the best beard – it really speaks to the competition. That said, I have a pretty good beard and this is a pretty good golf course. It’s a classic “empire” course that was originally outside of a city that has now grown around it. Tree-lined, without water and with classic heathland style layout, this is a course that requires extreme accuracy from tee-to-green. At 7,241 yards (par 72) it isn’t the longest once altitude of 1,500m or thereabouts is taken into consideration.

Weather is always a factor – last year’s winning score of -20 was nine shots higher than the previous year. We can expect light winds and pleasantly warm, dry conditions this week so I’m expecting putting to be at a premium and scores to be low. With a number of players taking up appointments on the IS, HPT or DPWT this is a weak field – and some eligible players are taking a week off during what is effectively the offseason in South Africa. A competitive field is headed by JC Ritchie, a winner here in 2017 and in rock-solid form recently (second in the UAE challenge among four top fifteens on the HPT.) At 7/1, though, he’s awfully short for a man who hasn’t won since February 2022 – albeit facing a week field.

I’ve got two against him and the rest of the field. The first is my old favourite, Gerhard Pepler. I should more properly call him a long-standing favourite, since at 25 he can’t be called old. He is a player from the far north of South Africa and as such playing close to home, on a sort of golf course he’s familiar with. He’s simply good at golf, and coming back into form nicely – with five top 25s in his last seven starts. He’s finished 15th and 14th in this for the last couple of years and is priced as though he won’t improve – which I think he will. He ranked tenth in putting last year. My second pick is Stefan Wears-Taylor, another talented twenty-something who was second here in 2022 and has recently flown back into form finishing third and 21st on his last two starts. He’s far from the longest but is a tee-to-green grinder and now he’s back to form is overpriced against some distinctly ordinary players. Money is coming for him but he's still value at the available prices.

Selections

Challenge de Espana

• Quim Vidal (40/1, 1pt e/w Bet365, 1/4 odds 5 places).

• Oihan Guillamoundeguy (40/1, 1pt e/w Bet365, 1/4 odds 5 places).

• Martin Simonsen (125/1, 1pt e/w Bet365, 1/4 odds 5 places).

• James Meyer de Beco (200/1, 1pt e/w, Unibet, 1/5 odds 6 places).

International Series Japan

• Tatsunori Shogenji (33/1, 1pt e/w, Unibet, 1/5 odds 6 places).

• Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (140/1, 1pt e/w Bet365, 1/4 odds 5 places).

Zimbabwe Open

• Gerhard Pepler (45/1, 1pt e/w Bet365, 1/4 odds 5 places).

• Stefan Wears-Taylor (55/1, 1pt e/w, Sporting Index, 1/5 odds 6 places).