Golf in Spain

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Challenge de España Returns — This Time, Isla Canela Takes Centre Stage

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A Ryder Cup veteran, a five-time Major champion’s ghost, and Spain’s hottest young talent — the 27th edition has a field worth watching.

The Challenge de España arrives at Isla Canela Golf Links in Huelva this week, 28–31 May. It is the HotelPlanner Tour’s first official event at the venue. With a prize fund of €300,000 and DP World Tour cards on the line, the stakes are higher than the scenery — and the scenery is already remarkable. (HotelPlanner Tour)

A links test with serious teeth

Isla Canela Golf Links sits between natural marshlands and the Atlantic Ocean, with views across the Guadiana River towards the Portuguese Algarve. It is one of the few genuine links-style layouts on the 2026 Road to Mallorca schedule.

Spain Canelas Links Course

The course is flat — but do not mistake flat for forgiving. Strong winds and undulating greens are the real examiners here. Creativity, patience and adaptability will separate the contenders from the also-rans.

Experience meets ambition in the field

The 2026 field is a study in contrasts. On one side: seasoned DP World Tour winners chasing a route back to the elite. On the other: a generation of young Europeans who have not read the memo about waiting their turn.

Chris Woods 3 DP World Titles

Chris Wood arrives with three DP World Tour titles, a Ryder Cup appearance in 2016 and a career ranking of world number 22. His compatriot David Horsey has four European Tour victories to his name. Alejandro Cañizares, Julien Quesne, Tom Lewis, Justin Harding and Steven Brown complete a core of players who know exactly what is at stake — because they have been there before. (MyGolfWay)

Pablo Ereño Challenge de Catalunya

Facing them: Pablo Ereño, fresh from winning the Challenge de Catalunya two weeks ago and currently sitting second on the Road to Mallorca standings. South African Wilco Nienaber, the powerful MJ Viljoen, and emerging talents Tiger Christensen, Anders Emil Ejlersen and Frank Kennedy are also in the mix.

Joel Moscatel adds a further local subplot. The Spaniard won this very tournament at Real Club Sevilla Golf in 2024 and arrives at Isla Canela with unfinished business.

Spain’s golfing generation is making noise

The Challenge de España is backed by the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, the Government of Andalusia, the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation and the Spanish Sports Council. It is a serious investment in the next generation of European professional golf.

RFEG Vice President Jaime Salaverri put it plainly:

“The level on the HotelPlanner Tour keeps getting higher, and the Challenge de España has established itself as a tournament that prepares players for the leap to the DP World Tour.”

Ereño’s recent win was cited as exactly that kind of evidence. (TenGolf)

 The DP World Tour cards are very much up for grabs

The top 15 players on the Road to Mallorca at season’s end earn DP World Tour cards. The standings entering this week are as tight as they have been all season. A single strong performance can move a player several places in either direction.

DPT World Tour Logo Stars

For the veterans in the field, this is a chance to reclaim status they know well. For Ereño and the younger contingent, it is the next step on a journey that is very much in progress.

Somewhere in this field, a career is about to change direction. That is what the HotelPlanner Tour does — and why this week at Isla Canela matters.

And if golf in southern Spain sounds like your kind of week, you do not have to watch from a screen. Browse our Costa de la Luz golf courses and put yourself in the picture. Or, the Algarve sits just across the river — close enough to see from the Spanish fairways and just as easy to book with Tee Times.

La Zambra – A return worth making

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The Costa del Sol has no shortage of places to stay. Finding one that stays with you is a different matter.

The approach to La Zambra already tells you something is different. The road climbs through the Mijas hills — white walls catching the late light, the Sierra sitting heavy behind the property, and the fairways of Los Lagos laid out below like someone planned the whole view deliberately. They probably did.

Zambra Resort Grandeur

La Zambra was the Byblos hotel in a previous life. In the eighties and nineties it was the kind of address that required no explanation — European royalty, celebrities, and Julio Iglesias arriving by helicopter with the casual confidence of a man who considers that a normal Tuesday.

The hotel closed in 2010. It reopened as part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, and whoever oversaw the restoration understood what was worth keeping. The blue tiles are still there. So are the whitewashed Andalusian walls and the courtyard patios that make you slow down without quite deciding to.

My room looked directly over Los Lagos. A welcome note on the desk — the kind of small gesture that costs almost nothing and lands better than most things that cost a great deal.

Zambra Resort Personal Welcome

Two Robert Trent Jones courses sit alongside the hotel, reachable by buggy from the door. Los Lagos is the more open of the two — wide fairways, lake hazards threading through several holes, a layout that rewards clean ball-striking without being punishing. Los Olivos is a different conversation entirely: tighter lines, more demanding approach angles, greens that require genuine thought rather than optimism. Twelve further courses sit within fifteen minutes of the hotel.

Zambra Golf Course View Distance

Dinner at Picador most evenings — genuinely delicious Andalusian cooking, executed with real conviction. Breakfast at Palmito is more generous than any round of golf strictly requires, which I chose to treat as preparation rather than excess. The spa is the largest on the Costa del Sol and earns that distinction quietly.

Málaga airport is twenty-five minutes away. Marbella is close enough to visit without it becoming the point of the trip. Mijas village, just up the hill, is the quietest corner of a coastline that is not always quiet.

La Zambra is not the kind of property that needs to compete for attention. The golf is excellent. The hotel earns its place alongside it. For anyone who takes this game seriously, that combination is rarer than it should be.

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La Zambra is bookable through Tee Times, with green fees, packages, and transfers all taken care of. Browse our golf holidays in Costa del Sol or go straight to the La Zambra resort page to put a special holiday together.

Fourteen Shots: Yurav Premlall Rewrites the Record Books in Barcelona

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A week that began with a missed cut ended with one of the most dominant performances in DP World Tour history.

Golf has a habit of producing weeks that defy rational explanation. The 2026 Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship at Real Club de Golf El Prat produced one of them.

From Missed Cut to Record Books in Seven Days

Seven days before lifting the trophy in Barcelona, Yurav Premlall had missed the cut at the Turkish Airlines Open by nine shots. Seven days later, the 22-year-old South African had secured the largest winning margin in the history of non-major DP World Tour events — finishing on 28-under par, 14 shots clear of fellow South African Shaun Norris. (Outkick/Fox News)

Yurav Premlall Catalunya Championship 2026 18th Green

That margin was just one shot shy of Tiger Woods’ record at an official DP World Tour event, set at the 2000 US Open — and it surpassed what had previously been the widest margin in a non-major, Colin Montgomerie’s 11-shot victory at the 1989 Portugal Open. (Golf Monthly)

“I have no words. I have worked so hard to get into this position, and it’s so rewarding to finally see the results of it. The last eight or nine months have been such a struggle — and to end up in this position, I’m just so grateful, and it’s a dream come true.”

Yurav Premlall Catalunya Championship 2026 Trophy

Born in Durban in 2003, Premlall made history as a teenager by becoming the youngest amateur ever to qualify for the South African Open, at just 15 years and five months old. The ability was always there. Barcelona confirmed the composure has caught up. (Yardbarker)

A Course With History, and a Week With Meaning

Real Club de Golf El Prat had not hosted a DP World Tour event since the 2015 Open de España, and its return to the calendar carries significance beyond a single week’s play. The Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship kicks off the Road to the 2031 Ryder Cup, following the announcement that Camiral will host the biennial contest — making Spain the first continental European country to do so twice. (Official site)

Spain Real Club Golf El Prat

The week carried a personal dimension too. The opening round coincided with the anniversary of the death of Severiano Ballesteros, with players invited to wear navy blue and white — the colours in which Seve claimed some of his most iconic victories — and the starter acknowledging his anniversary before the first tee shot.

Portugal on the Leaderboard

Two Portuguese players made the cut at El Prat, with Ricardo Gouveia the pick of the pair. Having sat fourth at the halfway stage, he faded slightly over the weekend to finish tied 13th on ten under — a solid result and another encouraging week for a player building quietly consistent form on tour. Daniel Rodrigues closed tied 43rd on five under, a decent return after his breakthrough second place at the Turkish Airlines Open last month. Portuguese golf is in good health.

Why Spain Deserves a Place on Your Golf Calendar

Barcelona is already one of Europe’s great golf-break destinations: courses in fine condition, the climate largely reliable, and a city that makes a compelling case for extending any trip by a day or two. A flagship DP World Tour event — with the Ryder Cup on the horizon — only adds to the momentum.

Spain Golfing Magic

The amateur golfer watching Premlall’s historic final round will have done so with one thought already forming. Whether it’s a long weekend in Barcelona, a week along the Costa Brava, or a wider Spain golf break taking in multiple destinations, Tee Times Golf Holidays can put together the right package — tee times, hotels, and transfers all arranged.