The Road to Mallorca returns to Czechia this week for the second of two events in the country this year. Here’s all you need to know about the D+D REAL Czech Challenge at Royal Beroun Golf Club.
Back to Beroun
Royal Beroun Golf Club returns to the Road to Mallorca this week having made its HotelPlanner Tour debut back in 2024. Located 30 minutes from the centre of Prague, the Les Furber-designed course provided countless scoring opportunities during the 2024 edition, as Benjamin Follett-Smith cruised to a five-stroke victory on 28 under par.
It wasn’t just the Zimbabwean who went low at last year’s D+D REAL Czech Challenge, however. Five further HotelPlanner Tour players finished on a score of 20 under par or better and those who ended the first 36 holes on four under or worse, missed the cut. If conditions allow, another low scoring affair could ensue during the 2025 edition.
Past winners
Having held a place on the HotelPlanner Tour schedule since 2012, the D+D REAL Czech Challenge has been won by several notable names over the years. Italian Andrea Pavan, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, clinched his fifth HotelPlanner Tour title at the 2023 event. Two years prior, Santiago Tarrio, currently 20th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, sealed his maiden HotelPlanner Tour title two weeks before adding a second win to his resume at the 2021 Challenge de España.
With Pavan and Tarrio both securing promotion to Golf’s Global Tour following their victories in Czechia, whoever wins at Royal Beroun could be destined to finish inside the Road to Mallorca’s top 20.
Open preparations
The D+D REAL Czech Challenge falls one week before The 153rd Open, and four players in the field will be teeing it up at Royal Portrush. English duo George Bloor and Curtis Knipes, Dane John Axelsen and Swede Jesper Sandborg all advanced through Final Qualifying across four different venues in England and Scotland.
This week’s event at Royal Beroun is the quartet’s last chance to fine-tune their games before testing themselves against the best players in the world at the final Major Championship of 2025.
Local talent
This week’s event at Royal Beroun Golf Club is the second of two HotelPlanner Tour stops in Czechia after last month’s Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge. During the event at Golf Resort Kaskáda, home favourite Filip Mruzek pieced together an impressive final round charge, which included five birdies and an eagle, to finish solo fourth.
Mruzek, this week, is joined by a host of Czech talent seeking a memorable victory on home soil. Jiri Zuska, currently 89th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, is eyeing an improvement on a season best finish of eighth, which came during May’s Challenge de España. Elsewhere, Czech amateurs Matus Cedzo, Filip Lukas and Maxmilian Jelinek are all looking to make the cut for the first time on the HotelPlanner Tour.
