Open de Espana: Six to watch

Watch all four rounds of the Open de Espana live on Sky Sports

Last updated: 30th April 2008

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Schwartzel: Defending champion

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The European Tour returns to mainland Spain for the first of 12 straight weeks on its home continent.

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This week's venue, the Real Club de Sevilla, last hosted a Tour event four years ago when Argentinian Ricardo Gonzalez emerged triumphant.

And later that same year it also staged the World Cup of Golf, won by the English pairing of Luke Donald and Paul Casey.

Located around three kilometres south of Seville, this week's Spanish Open course was designed by one of the nation's most famous sons - Jose Maria Olazabal.

The layout is relatively flat, covered in Palm and Fir trees, and has a number of big lakes that come into play.

The Spanish Open is one of the Tour's longest running events - it was first held in 1912.

So who are likely to challenge for one of the oldest titles in continental Europe?

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano: Fifth last month in Portugal and a Tour winner in each of the last three seasons.

Miguel-Angel Jimenez: The veteran Spaniard has played reasonably well this year - most notably at Augusta where he tied for eighth. Four of his 14 Tour wins have happened on the Iberian Peninsular but he has never triumphed in his own national open.

Jose Manuel Lara: The Spaniard usually plays well in his homeland and may well be worth an each-way punt this weekend.

Paul McGinley: The 41-year-old Sunningdale-resident will be hoping to make it back-to-back wins for Ireland following Darren Clarke's victory in China on Sunday.

Charl Schwartzel: The defending champion has enjoyed many of his better performances in Spain and Portugal. In fact, four of his last five trips to Iberia have yielded top-10 finishes.

Steve Webster: The highly-rated Englishman seems to play his best golf in southern Europe. The 32-year-old posted a top-10 finish at Estoril last month.