European Tour: Open de España

The European tour actually returns to Europe this week with the Spanish Open in Seville

Not a hugely attractive field in terms of really big names (none of the world top 30 attending) but beyond the top 30 there is quite a log jam of players in the 40-100 range

Dyson, Quiros and Hansen are the highest ranked players there but the bookies make Colsaerts the favourite followed by Fran Molinari and Manassero! In fact Dyson is currently showing 50-1 along with Robert Rock - possibly some value there!

I have had the pleasure of playing this course (I think it was only £50 back in 2009 - bargain!). Jose Maria Olazabal has done a good job of transforming a very flat squareish piece of arid wasteland, it is beautifully manicured and it feels like you are playing in a garden. The course is very lush, which means the rough can be quite penal, and is long and tough as you would expect for a tour course. The finish is very demanding, with water coming into play on 4 of the last 5 holes. For me, perhaps the most intimidating shot on the course was the 15th tee: you are faced with a carry of about 170 yards over a lake to find the fairway, with no bail out, the lake then continues tight to the fairway up the right hand side up to about 270 yards. Of course, the pro's can all carry the ball 270 yards+ with their driver so the water is not in play, but it certainly is for the amateur!

Real Sevilla represents a good challenge to the pros, but probably favours the big hitters as the fairways are reasonably generous. All of the par 5's will be reachable but as 2 of them require carries over water in front of the green (9 & 16) I expect only the big hitter will take those on. There are also 2 very long par 3's... I think it is a big advantage for the guys able to play a long iron in compared to shorter hitters who will need to hit a wood... I have seen pro's hitting 3 wood into the 7th.

Seville is a great city with a lot of history, and is the home of tapas, flamenco, and two good football sides. A very pleasant place to spend a weekend. I would definitely recommend it!

Seems pretty tough out there - cold wet and windy!

Early leaders only just getting to -2 and currently only 11 players under par

Level par will be a good score today I think!

Only 8 under par now but Frannie Molinari moved to -3 to take two shot lead

I see that two of my Spice Boys (Molinari and Wood) are currently in the top 10!