acciona Open de España presented by Madrid: DP World Tour Fantasy ones to watch

Feel closer to the action on the DP World Tour by competing against golf fans from around the world in our official Fantasy game as the Back 9 continues with the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.

To play Fantasy DP World Tour, click here.

The DP World Tour is back at the event where it all began this week for acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.

The Spanish Open was the first event ever played on the then European Tour and since Antonio Garrido lifted the trophy in 1972, a host of golf's biggest stars have added their name to that historic piece of silverware.

Major Champions Arnold Palmer, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Sir Nick Faldo, Pádraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Charl Schwartzel and Francesco Molinari have all won it and some equally illustrious names are in the field this week.

Another Major Champion in Jon Rahm has dominated this event in recent seasons and he is looking to become the first man to win it four times but he will face some stiff competition.

Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Victor Perez all tee it up this week alongside defending champion Matthieu Pavon and American Major winners Jimmy Walker and Patrick Reed.

If you have not done so already, you can sign up to play the official 2024 DP World Tour Fantasy game here and submit your six-man team before round one gets under way on Thursday.

The 2024 season-long winner will win a trip to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next year, enjoy a lesson with a DP World Tour professional and a round of golf on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. For more information on this amazing prize and others, read here.

Fantasy Insight: It is perhaps no surprise that in the very early stages of selection, Rahm - a man who has won twice around this course in the last four editions - is currently the most-picked player, featuring in just over 88% of teams.

Next comes the in-form Aaron Rai, a recent PGA TOUR winner fresh off a good week at the BMW PGA Championship, who is selected in just under 75% of squads.

Tyrrell Hatton is then in third at 53%, followed by Lowry and Matt Wallace.

Here, we pick out three players in action this week who are worth considering for your Fantasy team selections.

Favourite - Jon Rahm

There is really only one place to start and that is with the three-time champion and two-time Major winner. Rahm has often spoken about the importance of playing in this event and in five appearances he has those three wins, a top ten last season and a tie for 17th in 2021. Two of those wins came at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid and he has only shot three rounds of 69 or above in his four appearances over the layout. He finished seventh at The Open and fifth at the Olympics in his last two DP World Tour starts and with his worldwide form also being impressive, it is no surprise both the bookies and our players are backing him this week.

Form Horse - Matt Wallace

The Englishman has set his sights firmly on making the Ryder Cup team for 2025 and he is certainly going about it the right way, racking up some serious early points in recent weeks. He finished eighth at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo and then claimed a first DP World Tour win in six years at the Omega European Masters. A tie for 12th at last week's BMW PGA Championship maintained his momentum and he has no scar tissue over this layout having not played it before. A confident Wallace is always a dangerous beast and at the minute, he is brimming with it.

Wild Card - Alfredo Garcia-Heredia

After making his first four cuts of the season, the Spaniard played just two more weekends between February and arriving in Switzerland earlier this month. His runner-up finish there, however, essentially sealed his playing privileges for next season and he is now right in the mix to make the DP World Tour Play-Offs in November. Picking up Ranking points in just three of his last 15 events may make him a little too wild for some but Garcia-Heredia has finished in the top ten over this layout the last two seasons and will have plenty of home support behind him.

Who have our commentary team picked?

• Alison Whitaker – Tommy Fleetwood

• Sam Torrance – Tyrrell Hatton

• Mark Roe – Jon Rahm

• Jay Townsend – Sepp Straka

• Inci Mehmet – Shane Lowry

• Josh Antmann – Aaron Rai

Looking Back - BMW PGA Championship

Billy Horschel will have been a popular winner last week as he was the fourth most-picked player, featuring in 34.23% of teams. Nearly 7% of players also had him as their captain, meaning he earned them a whopping 478 points.

Our Favourite Rory McIlroy lost out in a play-off to finish second for the second consecutive week, while Form Horse Rasmus Højgaard finished in a tie for 38th and Wild Card Laurie Canter withdrew on the opening day before teeing off.

Season so far - 2024 DP World Tour Fantasy Top 10 player rankings