Out of the Rough: Soudal Open (2025)

After a week off for the PGA Championship, the DP World Tour returns to action for this week’s Soudal Open.

This event, formally known as the Belgium Open, has not been a consistent stop on the DP World Tour Schedule but is now being played for the fourth consecutive year.

It was first played in 1910 and was won by frenchman Arnaud Massey. Lee Westwood won two editions of this event in 1998 and 2000 but then the event was dropped from the schedule following his second victory.

It wasn’t until 2018 that the event made a return but in a different format as the Belgian Knockout. This event was a match play/stroke play hybrid event but was only staged twice. However, it was played at this week’s venue - Rinkven International.

From there, the event returned in 2022 as a typical stroke play event and will now be played for four consecutive seasons. 

The Field

With a handful of the Tour’s best competing at the PGA Championship state-side, this field will look much different than that currently reported.

What we do know is that defending champion Nacho Elvira will be back to defend his title. Elvira held off a slew of competitors a season ago to claim his second DPWT title - and the first since 2021.

One of the three runner-ups from a season ago was Belgium native Thomas Pieters who currently competes on LIV Golf. Pieters will be back this season to better his placement from a season ago and claim victory on home soil.

Another runner-up from a season ago is Romain Langasque who too will be competing this week.

Simon Forsstrom was the winner in 2023 and will look to claim his second Soudal Open title this year.

Guido Migliozzi and Adrian Otaegui were the two victors of the former Belgian Knockout and too will be competing this week.

The Course

Rinkven International Golf Club in Antwerp plays host to the Soudal Open for the fourth consecutive season.

It plays on the shorter side in terms of DP World Tour venues at 6,924 yards and a Par 71.

Rinkven was in existence in the early 1980’s and was originally designed by Belgian golfer and coach, Paul Rolin. Since, the course has undergone a series of changes and was expanded to two 18 hole courses - the North and the South.

This week’s event will be held as a composite of both of the courses.

The course is described as “a wonderfully peaceful area of nature” with a “mixture of woodland and parkland holes with water coming into play on several holes,” per the venue’s website.

Getting off the tee with distance won’t be of the utmost importance this week as many of the holes will force layups. The fairways, although flat and exposed, are tight and tree lined. Oftentimes golfers will be taking irons off the tee.

In the long list of defenses that the course offers is smaller than average Bentgrass greens. 

This is an accuracy based course, so of course, Strokes Gained: Approach will be a key stat. 

Scrambling too will be of the utmost importance this week with these small Bentgrass greens and forced layups. Being able to salvage par to keep pace will be crucial

The par-five fifth here at Rinkven plays as the easiest hole on the course but is followed by a very tough stretch. Holes six, seven, eight, nine and ten ranked as the fourth, fifth, 14th, second and first in terms of toughness annually.

In all, this is a much different track than what we’ve seen on Tour so far this season.

The Weather

Temperatures will be on the cooler side this week, opening at 58-degrees for Thursday and gradually increasing to a high of 66-degrees on Sunday. Thursday currently calls for just a 15-percent chance of precipitation as Friday calls for just a ten-percent chance. Chances of precipitation increases to 20-percent for Saturday and 35-percent on Sunday. Winds will begin at 11 miles-per-hour on Thursday before dropping to nine miles-per-hour for Friday. Winds will be at the highest on Saturday at 12 miles-per-hour before decreasing to eight miles-per-hour for Sunday. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Scrambling

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Driving Accuracy

• Bogey Avoidance

• Birdie or Better Percentage

Betting Card

Joost Luiten (+3500)

Forewarning, Luiten is technically on my betting ‘black list’ but the value is there for him this week. So be it. Here we go. Luiten is currently third on Tour in SG: TTG, fifth in SG: APP, sixth in GIR%, 12th in driving accuracy, 15th in bogey avoidance, 22nd in birdie or better percentage, 58th in scrambling and 129th in SG: PUTT. In his last outing, Luiten gained 1.13 strokes putting across four rounds. The short game has always been the issue for Luiten, but if his latest outing has anything to prove, he could be a threat this week. He placed fifth last week at the Turkish Airlines Open. He missed the cut at the Hainan Classic but prior to that placed 14th at the Volvo China Open, third at the Hero Indian Open, 36th at the Singapore Classic, 42nd at the Joburg Open and 11th at the Investec South African Open Championship. He played here last year where he missed the cut. He also missed the cut here in 2022. He’s in insane form and matches up statistically well.

Brandon Robinson-Thompson (+6500)

Robinson-Thompson bounced back from consecutive missed cuts at the Volvo China Open and the Hainan Classic with a fourth place finish in his last outing at the Turkish Airlines Open. Prior to those missed cuts he placed 17th at the Hero Indian Open, 20th at the Porsche Singapore Classic, seventh at the Joburg Open, 41st at the Magical Kenya Open, third at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and eighth at the Bepco Energies Bahrain Championship. He is currently 12th on Tour in GIR%, 22nd in bogey avoidance, 28th in both SG: TTG and SG: PUTT, 29th in scrambling, 33rd in SG: APP, 36th in driving accuracy and 61st in birdie or better percentage. He’ll be making his Soudal Open debut this week. 

Jacob Skov Olesen (+8000)

I keep going back to the well but the value continues to be there. Olesen is currently 16th on Tour in bogey avoidance, 24th in SG: TTG, 25th in GIR%, 29th in driving accuracy, 31st in scrambling, 32nd in SG: APP, 64th in SG: PUTT and 88th in birdie or better percentage. He placed 12th in his last outing at the Turkish Airlines Open. He did miss the cut at the Hainan Classic but prior to that placed eighth at the Volvo China Open, seventh at the Joburg Open and 13th at the Magical Kenya Open. He also placed ninth at the AfrAsia Mauritius Open earlier this season. He too will be making his tournament debut this week. 

Matthew Southgate (+10000)

Southgate did miss the cut here a season ago as well as 2022 but did place fourth here in 2023. He is currently seventh on Tour in bogey avoidance, eighth in scrambling, tenth in driving accuracy, 16th in GIR%, 36th in SG: APP, 51st in SG: TTG, 57th in SG: PUTT and 85th in birdie or better percentage. Like most of those we’ve talked about, Southgate missed the cut at the Hainan Classic but followed that up with a fifth place finish in his last outing at the Turkish Airlines Open. On the season he also placed 22nd at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, 11th at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, 20th at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open and 15th at the BMW Australian PGA Championship. 

Edoardo Molinari (+10000)

Molinari is currently first on Tour in driving accuracy, second in SG: PUTT, fourth in bogey avoidance, sixth in scrambling, 14th in GIR%, 53rd in SG: TTG, 66th in birdie or better percentage and 106th in SG: APP. He’s played in each of the last five events coming into this week. He placed 24th in his last outing at the Turkish Airlines Open, sixth at the Hainan Classic, 36th at the Volvo China Open, ninth at the Hero Indian Open and 43rd at the Porsche Singapore Classic. He placed 41st here a season ago, 59th in 2023 and ninth in 2023.