Course Overview. The new El Prat course sits about 20km outside of Barcelona and was built following the expansion of Barcelona airport which ran adjacent to the old course of the same name. This relocation gave designer Greg Norman a blank canvas and a huge acreage to work upon – the result is a stunning 45-hole complex fit for an event such as this.
Historical events that pre-date 2003 can be disregarded – not that any of this week’s field were involved in those – instead the Challenge Tour’s Peugeot Challenge in 2025 & 2026, plus the European Tour’s Spanish Open in 2011 and 2015 are the relevant leaderboards to study, although the routing and holes used have partially changed for this week’s event.
The Spanish Opens at El Prat were played on a bespoke “Open Course” routing combining the Abajo and Arriba nines, stretching beyond 7,300 yards in total. This week’s Catalunya Championship switches to a different composite, centred on the Pink Course (Arriba & Bosque) nines, removing the longer Abajo nine and reducing total yardage to a quoted 7,057 yards.
As usual with Greg Norman designs, the focus is on playability and is this layout is likely to play tough but fair. Norman tends to punish wayward drives and approaches with well-placed bunkers, however those finding the right areas of the fairways and greens will find birdies available on the undulating bentgrass surfaces. The front 9 is tree-lined and relatively tight, however the back 9 is much more open and the par-5 18th is there to provide excitement right down to the last.
The Par 5s aren’t excessively long at between 540 and 593 yards and should be just about reachable for the bombers who can hit the fairways off the tee, and with six sub-400 yard Par 4s this may come down to who fares best with the wedge in hand.
Predictor Model. Our published Predictor Model is available here. As always you can build your own model using the variables available.
El Prat Course Winners: 2015: James Morrison (-10); 2011: Thomas Aiken (-10); 2006: David Drysdale (-10); 2005: Tomas Jesus Munoz (-1).
Weather Forecast. The latest weather forecast for the Barcelona region is here.
A pleasant four days is in store for the players this week with sunny spells and light winds for the first three days, allowing temperatures to nudge towards 70 Fahrenheit. Sunday may be a little breezier at 15-20mph, although that forecast may well change this far out.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors. We have some basic skill stats from the two most recent events held at El Prat over the years as follows:
- 2015: James Morrison. 302 yards (40th), 73.8% fairways (7th), 75.9% greens in regulation (5th), 61.5% scrambling (17th), 1.73 putts per GIR (12th)
- 2011: Thomas Aiken. 303 yards (4th), 50% fairways (59th), 70.8% greens in regulation (16th), 71.4% scrambling (2nd), 1.75 putts per GIR (16th)
Not withstanding the change in routing and holes used this year, a sound tee-to-green game seems preferable here. However strong Scrambling is the most common statistic among the winners here and those who contended on each of the events where stats were recorded.
Incoming Form: Of the four winners here at the new El Prat over the years, their incoming form was as follows:
- 2015: James Morrison: MC/MC/MC/45/MC/70/MC/18
- 2011: Thomas Aiken: 3/MC/13/6/7/13/36/35
- 2006: David Drysdale: MC/MC/36/9/MC/MC/MC/76
- 2005: Tomas Jesus Munoz: MC/MC/MC/MC/MC/36/MC/MC
James Morrison’s form had been generally poor, but a tie for 18th on his last start at the China Open showed a little promise. Overall the incoming form of the winners here at El Prat has been patchy.
Course Form. To complete the circle, here’s the course form of our winners here at El Prat prior to their victories:
- 2015: James Morrison: 36
- 2011: Thomas Aiken: Debut
- 2006: David Drysdale: Debut
- 2005: Tomas Jesus Munoz: Debut
A sound tee-to-green game seems to be the most logical starting point with the reward for finding fairways likely to be an unobstructed route to the pin and, on the longer holes, the chance to attack the greens in two shots.
My selections are as follows:
