The European swing of the DPWT begins this week with the return of the Catalunya Championship at Real Club de Golf El Prat. Since a big renovation in 2003, El Prat has twice hosted the Open de Espana in 2011 and 2015. Both of those events were won at 10 under. There are 45 holes at the El Prat complex, and while the back nine this week will be the same as in those events, this week uses a different front nine making up the Pink course. The Pink course at El Prat is a very sho

The Turkish Airlines Open finds a new home this year, at the National Golf Club -- down the road from the previous two hosts in the golf heavy Belek region. National is a 7,287-yard par 72 parkland course that winds through thick forests with water in play on 7 holes. There are Bermuda grass playing surfaces, but they have been overseeded with Poa Trivialis over the winter. Although I expect by late April the Bermuda will be coming back through. There has been an old Challeng

Course Introduction After what feels like a long break with no event either side of the Masters, the DPWT returns to continue their Asian swing with the Volvo China Open. Last year this event went to a new host course at Enhance Anting Golf Club, and we return there this year. Home hopeful Ashun Wu was a shock winner with Ashun only having 1 other top 10 (for a t9) since the start of 2023. He won by 1 shot at -14, with only 7 players reaching double digits under par and an ov

Overview If you want to see professional golfers get put in a blender at one of the most insane golf courses in the world, this is the best week of the year. The Gary Player Course at DLF Golf and Country Club will host the Indian Open on the DPWT for the fourth year in a row and has developed a reputation for ridiculous golf. DLF is a 7,416-yard par 72 that features highly contoured Bermuda greens (some holes have two greens), narrow fairway corridors lined by dense jungle,

The DPWT begins the Asian swing with the Hainan Classic at the Mission Hills Resort Haikou in China. The Blackstone Course hosted this event last year (and the 2011 world cup of golf won by Gary Woodland and Matt Kuchar), but this year there is a change to a Pro-am format. The first 36 holes are split over the Blackstone and Vintage courses at Mission Hills before staying on the Blackstone for the weekend. The Blackstone course is a very lengthy 7,637 par 72 despite being dow

We end the African swing with the Joburg Open which is held at Houghton Golf Club for the fourth season in a row. The first two times were held at the beginning of the wrap-around season in November 2022 and 2023, before last year’s move to March (with no event in 2024 as part of the date change). Houghton is a 7,241 yard par 70 that plays shorter due to being at an altitude of 5,500 feet which has an impact of around 6-7%. It is a tree-lined parkland style golf course with n

Course Introduction The South African Open tends to move around to different courses and this year’s edition is being held at Stellenbosch Golf Club on the Western Cape. Stellenbosch is a 7,213 yard par 70 parkland course with Kikuyu fairways and small flat Bentgrass greens. Most of the fairways are treelined and there are some out-of-bounds fences in play, but overall it is not a penal golf course. The last time Stellenbosch hosted the SA Open was in 1999 as a par 71 when Da

The DPWT returns after a week off with the Magical Kenya Open held at Karen Country Club. The Kenya Open was elevated to a European Tour event in 2019, with the 2019 and 2021 (2020 was cancelled due to Covid) events held at Karen before moving to Muthaiga up until last year. In addition to these two events, Karen also hosted an extra event in 2021. The Kenya Savannah Classic which was played the week after Karen hosted the Kenya Open as a part of Covid rescheduling to fill ev

At Doha Golf Club, the profile that we are primarily looking for is a combination of approach play and putting. Distance has been a help, and you need to avoid the big miss into the desert, but driving hasn’t been a primary separator at the top of the leaderboard. We have the same big four at the top of the odds board as last week, but while Patrick Reed and Daniel Hillier were contending for victory, Jayden Schaper and Angel Ayora were struggling down the field. A month into

This week we have the Qatar Masters at long-time host Doha Golf Club. There was a brief move away from Doha GC after 2019, but it returned in 2022 with the old Bermuda greens replaced by new paspalum greens. Doha is a long 7,508-yard stock par 72 that plays as an exposed desert course, often in windy conditions, with large greens. It played to a scoring average of +0.19 in 2025, +0.09 in 2024 and +0.85 in 2022 with winning scores of -16, -14 and -7 and only 9 players reaching

With most of the big names heading back to America, this is a fairly weak event, but that means it’s wide open beyond the four favorites at the top of the board. At the Royal Golf Club, the profile that we are primarily looking for is a combination of iron play and distance. Driving accuracy is somewhat irrelevant, and while paspalum putting is a bonus, players have been able to contend and even win without putting well. Players with a good history at the comp courses of Al H

First, a word on last week's Dubai Desert Classic where Patrick Reed won easily. This wasn’t a massive surprise given he was one of the players who had gone against the driving and distance trend when 2nd in 2023. What is a large surprise was that he wasn’t alone, with five of the top six below average in distance and the likes of Andy Sullivan, Francesco Molinari and Jayden Schaper all fitting a shorter but more accurate architype. Other than Nicolai Hojgaard (who fit the di

At the Emirates Golf Club, the profile that we are primarily looking for is an elite driver of the golf ball. Someone who could finish in the top five in strokes gained off the tee on a course that rewards length and has narrow fairways with thick enough rough. A good secondary skill to have is iron play, predominantly from 150-225 yards as 14 of the 18 holes feature an approach from this range. Good Bermuda putting is helpful, but in general short game and putting have less

A slight change this week. When possible, I will try and get the course breakdown out on the Monday for the odds drop, with a summary of the players that I like coming later in the week. This week we have the first Rolex series event (the DPWT version of the signature events) of the year with the Dubai Desert Classic at long time host Emirates Golf Club. This will be the 5th time the Dubai Desert Classic has been apart of the Roles series. Despite being a Rolex series event,

Course Breakdown The DPWT begins 2026 with a four-week Middle Eastern swing starting with the Dubai Invitational. The Dubai Invitational has a limited field of only 60 players, with a Pro-Am component across the first three days. The past few years this has been rotating with the Team Cup that Europe uses as preparation in Ryder Cup years, so we only have one recent renewal from the start of 2024. That event had one of the best Sundays of the year, with McIlroy and Fleetwood

The last event of the year is a low-key affair at the La Reserve Golf Links at the Heritage Golf Club in Mauritius. This is the second time La Reserve has hosted, after co-course designer Louis Oosthuizen won at his own course at the end of 2023. The course is a 7,357 yard par 72, with five par threes and five par fives, and we have Paspalum on all the playing surfaces. There are expected to be showers throughout the week, so the course will likely be softer and slower than i

The Alfred Dunhill Championship is taking a one year hiatus from its regular home of Leopard Creek and is instead at Royal Johannesburg this year. Royal Johannesburg is a 36-hole facility and last appeared on the DPWT as host of the Joberg Open from 2007 to 2017. But while that tournament used both courses with one round played on the shorter West course, this year’s event will only be played on the longer championship East course. The East course is a par 72 that measures 7,

The ‘other’ event this week, the Nedbank is still a great tournament in its own right and is colloquially known as ‘Africa’s major.’ Starting out as an extremely small field invitational, the Nedbank joined the DPWT in 2013 and increased in size to a 30 man field, and then again to the current field size of around 66 in 2016. It has at times been a part of the DPWT finals series and elevated Rolex series but has only been a regular DPWT event since last year, albeit still wit

BOOOOOTS. It’s Australian Open week at Royal Melbourne and that means there will be boots on the ground as I plan to attend on what is a sold out Sunday to see star attraction Rory McIlroy. But the other star attraction is the golf course itself. Royal Melbourne is a 36-hole facility, with the West course ranking up at number 7 in the latest Golf.com rankings, and the East course at 82. These courses span across four parcels of land, but the Australian Open will be played on

Course Breakdown As the PGA Tour season ends, the DPWT begins their new season down under with the Australian PGA. Royal Queensland is hosting for the fifth consecutive time, and the fourth time as part of the DPWT (the January 2022 Aus PGA was also played here). Queensland is the Florida of Australia, and in keeping with that this is a very flat, parkland, Bermuda (called Couch grass in Aus) golf course that runs along the river. As part of a major redesign nearly two decade