Open de Espana: Six to watch

Quiros: Defending champion in Barcelona

The European Tour returns to its home continent for this week’s Spanish Open at El Prat near Barcelona.

Although El Prat is a well-known name on the European golf circuit – it first hosted the national open in 1956 – this week’s course is a brand new design built by Greg Norman and opened in 2004.

The El Prat complex can boast both stunning scenery and 45 holes of excellent golf and is situated in Terassa around 20 kilometres from Barcelona.

The slightly undulating venue has large rolling greens and American style bunkers, and is surrounded by heavily wooded terrain.

So who’s in the field in north-east Spain?

Thomas Bjorn: A winner over the original El Prat course in 1998 and a champion in Qatar earlier this year.

Raphael Jacquelin: The Frenchman is a winner already this season in Sicily while three of his last five visits to Spain have yielded top-10 finishes.

Miguel Angel Jimenez: The veteran Spaniard finished second in Korea at the weekend behind world No 1 Lee Westwood.

Peter Lawrie: The underrated Irishman tasted victory in Spain three years ago and, at the recent China Open, finished in a tie-for-second.

Matteo Manassero: The teenager is now up to No 33 in the world following a brace of European Tour victories during the past six months.

Alvaro Quiros: The defending champion who is hoping to become the first back-to-back winner of the Spanish Open since Max Faulkner in 1953. The world No 27 is also the reigning Dubai Desert Classic champion.