Spain Golf News

HotelPlanner Tour’s Grand Final Returns to Alcanada

Posted on by

Mallorca’s north coast turns into the season’s biggest stage this autumn. Club de Golf Alcanada, tucked beside the lighthouse at Port d’Alcúdia, will host the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A from Thursday 29 October to Sunday 1 November 2026 — the HotelPlanner Tour’s season-ending showpiece, and the sixth time this coastal test has closed out the Road to Mallorca.

A Course That Keeps Getting Asked Back

Coastal hole at Club de Golf Alcanada with the lighthouse visible, Mallorca

Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr and opened in 2003, Alcanada is Mallorca’s only genuinely coastal course, its par-72 layout sloping down toward the Mediterranean and that lighthouse on the tiny island just offshore. This will be the fifth consecutive year — and sixth overall — that the club has staged the Grand Final, a run matched by very few venues on the European golf calendar. (Club de Golf Alcanada)

Fifteen Cards on the Line

Mediterranean view from Club de Golf Alcanada near Port d'Alcúdia, Mallorca

The Grand Final caps a 28-tournament Road to Mallorca season spanning 19 countries and three continents, with a total prize fund of €9 million. This week alone carries €500,000 and 4,000 Race to Mallorca points — double the usual event — as the leading players chase one of 15 DP World Tour cards, down from 20 the year before. Graduates qualify for the DP World Tour’s Earnings Assurance Programme, guaranteeing $150,000 in minimum earnings for 2027, with the top five also receiving the John Jacobs Bursary. (Golf Business News)

Last Year’s Fairytale Sets the Bar

HotelPlanner Tour Grand Final trophy presentation, Mallorca

The 2025 edition is a hard act to follow. James Morrison, sitting 36th in the rankings and reportedly considering retirement, carded four rounds in the 60s and low 70s to win outright and reclaim his DP World Tour card twelve months after losing it. JC Ritchie, meanwhile, topped the season-long rankings on the back of three wins. Whoever tops the leaderboard at Alcanada this November will be writing the next chapter in a Grand Final story that rarely disappoints. (HotelPlanner Tour)

Alcanada’s coastal winds and exposed greens have a habit of deciding careers, and this year’s field will feel every gust of it. For golfers who’d rather play the course than just watch it on a leaderboard, Mallorca’s fairways are open well beyond tournament week. Browse our Balearic Islands golf holidays and put yourself on the same coastline.


Vote for Tee Times

Chacarra Goes Back-to-Back — and Lands an Open Debut

Posted on by

Two DP World Tour titles in two weeks, and a PGA Tour card now firmly in his sights

Eugenio Chacarra closed out the Italian Open on Sunday with a bogey-free 64, winning by five shots at Circolo Golf Torino. It was the 26-year-old Spaniard’s second DP World Tour title in as many weeks, following his win at the KLM Open earlier in June. Both the manner and the timing matter.

A flawless Sunday in Turin

A victorious Eugenio Chacarra waves to the crowd

Chacarra reached 24-under for the week, five clear of England’s Matt Wallace, with Chile’s Joaquín Niemann a further shot back in third. The closing round was the work of a player in full control — five birdies in his first ten holes, then an eagle at the par-five 15th to settle the matter. He never looked troubled. (ESPN)

A ticket to Royal Birkdale

The victory carried a significant reward beyond the trophy. Chacarra secured the final Open Championship place available to unexempt players through the Open Qualifying Series, booking his debut at Royal Birkdale next month. For a player who has watched the game’s oldest major on television since boyhood, it is a milestone moment.

The bigger prize in sight

The win lifted Chacarra to third in the Race to Dubai, behind only Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy, and put him top of the standings for the ten PGA Tour cards awarded to leading non-exempt players at season’s end. It marks a notable turnaround. A former LIV Golf player whose contract with Sergio García’s Fireballs was not renewed after 2024, Chacarra returned to the DP World Tour and won the Hero Indian Open in March 2025. Three titles in fifteen months later, the PGA Tour card he has chased since childhood is within reach.

Eugenio Chacarra with the Italian Open Trophy

A summer for Spanish golf

Chacarra’s form is part of a strong season for Spanish golf, and a reminder of the depth the country continues to produce. For anyone inspired to play where the Spanish game is at its finest, the courses of the Costa del Sol — championship layouts, reliable sunshine, and the kind of post-round dining that makes an evening — are hard to beat.

Browse our Costa del Sol golf holidays and see what the fuss is about.


Vote for Tee Times

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

Posted on by

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.