The HotelPlanner Tour 2025 has come to an end and it is now official that Sebas García, Quim Vidal and Rocco Repetto Taylor will play next season on the DP World Tour. A true joy for Spanish golf, equalling the best promotion in history. Only in 2006 did the same number of players advance.
However, there is one thing this tournament has made clear again: Spaniards struggle with Alcanada. Even though the island seems like familiar ground, the Final of the HotelPlanner Tour has become a sort of invisible wall for the Armada. The numbers speak for themselves: in the five years the tournament has been held at Club de Golf Alcanada, barely a Spanish player has been able to significantly improve their position in the Road to Mallorca. It was Ángel Ayora in 2024, when he finished second in the tournament and rose to fourth place in the ranking. Except for him, the balance is a competitive wasteland.
This 2025 has been no exception and perhaps the absolute confirmation of the rule. After the close of this edition, none of the five Spaniards present managed to advance in the standings. Víctor Pastor (-4) did gain some positions (from 45th to 43rd), but far below what he needed to get closer to the twenty promotion cards. The rest, all in the red: Sebas García (-5) fell from seventh to eleventh place; Quim Vidal (-4) from twelfth to fifteenth; Rocco Repetto Taylor dropping from fourteenth to eighteenth takes the cake, just like Adri Arnaus (+4) who fell from 38th to 42nd. The data reflects a pattern that repeats, almost without margin for error.
Looking back, it is clear that this is not an isolated bad streak. In 2024, beyond Ayora’s feat, Joel Moscatel lost a position, dropping to tenth place in the Road to Mallorca after finishing 23rd in the tournament. In 2023, Manu Elvira came as the number one in the ranking and left third; Iván Cantero fell from eleventh to sixteenth place after finishing 30th, and Lucas Vacarisas also dropped, from 39th to 41st. In 2022, the drama was especially cruel with Álex del Rey, who started 16th and ended 22nd, out of the cards. That same year, Javi Sainz, 36th before the tournament, maintained his position. Emilio Cuartero Blanco and Borja Virto also lost positions that same year. Only two Spanish top tens in five editions (Ángel and Javi Sainz), and a single additional top 20: Sebas’s 18th this year.
Alcanada’s debut in 2019 already hinted at what was to come. Sebas García fell from 13th to 15th in the Road, Emilio Cuartero dropped to 44th and Carles Pigem gained a position as symbolic as it was useless: from 42nd to 41st.
In summary, Alcanada is not a promised land for our players. No matter the form they arrive in, the wind blowing, or the state of the course: the Mallorcan final has become a recurring puzzle for Spanish golf. A scenario that, for now, only someone like Ángel Ayora has been able to decipher.
Check the live results of the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A 2025
