Tournament: Nexo Championship
Race to Dubai: Tournament 29 of 44
Venue: Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Prize Fund: US$2,750,000
Hashtag: #NexoChampionship #DPWT
Tournament Preview
Ewen Ferguson is hoping to harness home advantage when he tees it up at the Nexo Championship at Trump International Golf Links this week.
The 29-year-old has three DP World Tour wins to his name in Qatar, Northern Ireland and Germany but he would love to lift his first trophy on Scottish soil this week as the Nexo Championship – previously the Scottish Championship – returns to the Race to Dubai schedule for the first time since 2020.
Ferguson will be joined by fellow Scots Connor Syme and Calum Hill – who have both triumphed on the Race to Dubai this season – as well as Richie Ramsay and Grant Forrest as a star-studded field tees it up on the Aberdeenshire coastline.
Daniel Young is looking to make it back-to-back victories in Scotland after winning the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge supported by The R&A on the HotelPlanner Tour last week, while four-time PGA TOUR winner Martin Laird will make his first appearance on home soil since 2018.
Adrian Otaegui, from the UAE, returns to defend his title having finished four shots clear of Matt Wallace to triumph at Fairmont St Andrews in 2020, and he will be joined by recent DP World Tour winners Marco Penge and Richard Mansell.
The Nexo Championship is the penultimate event in the Closing Swing, the final of five Global Swings in the 2025 DP World Tour season, with exemptions into the Back 9 and the next Rolex Series event of the season, the BMW PGA Championship, on offer. The top 70 players at the end of the Back 9 qualify for the season-ending DP World Tour Play-Offs.
Nexo, the premier digital assets wealth platform, and the DP World Tour are expanding their partnership with the introduction of the Course Record Presented by Nexo – а new rolling prize for the Tour’s players.
The initiative begins this week at the Nexo Championship with the base prize starting at US$10,000 and will be awarded to the first player who sets a course record that continues to stand at the close of the competition. If no course record is shot that week, the prize will roll over to the next tournament with a further US$10,000 added to the pot.
To mark the launch at the Nexo Championship, Nexo will also be providing NEXO Tokens worth an additional US$50,000 for a course record this week – showcasing the growing role of digital assets in elite sport.
Player Quotes
Ewen Ferguson: I’m buzzing to be on home soil. It’s nice when the tournaments start back and you just need to drive to the next venue which is rare for us and a nice feeling.
It’s going to be cool playing in front of family and friends. I’ve never played here before, and the pictures look incredible so it’s going to be a really fun week.
Playing at home It can work for you and against you: if it’s going well, it’s the best feeling ever and you’re flying. It’s one that I’m going to try and use to my advantage and try and ride it with some birdies and some good vibes. It’ll be a fun week.
It would be incredible to win, with all your family and friends around it would be unbelievable. I’d take some time off after that, I think.
Connor Syme: Being Scottish it’s nice to be playing at home. We came up here a few weeks ago to have a look around the course and it’s beautiful, I’m looking forward to this week.
I came up and played it with a few of the other Scottish lads, we got quite a nice day for it, obviously it’s going to be a windy challenging week this week. There’s a lot of high dunes and with the wind, keeping it in play off the tee is going to be important, so we’ll do our best to try and do that.
It’s brilliant playing at home. My last start was also in Scotland at the Genesis Scottish Open. There’s a lot of home comforts and stuff like that that you obviously don’t get every week so I’m looking forward to that and looking forward to playing the golf course and being at home. It’s all positive signs and hopefully I can feed off that a little bit and have a good week.
I’ve only played a couple of times since winning the KLM Open but it’s nice to know I can do it and have those successes. Hopefully when I get into position somewhere I can draw on that given the fact I managed to win.
Kristoffer Reitan: I’m really excited for this week. The course is looking magnificent and it’s going to be a real test throughout the week in the wind. I’m looking forward to playing a top-class golf course.
I’ve played well on links courses recently at the Scottish Open and The Open, so I’m looking to build on that here. It was nice to get my first victory earlier this year and now my goals have changed a little bit.
I want to keep playing good golf and there is still so much to play for. I’m going to keep my head down and take it week by week and then see where that leaves me at the end of the year.
Daniel Young: It was amazing to get my first win on the HotelPlanner Tour. It was great to win at home. You can’t get picky where you win in this game, but certainly to win on home soil was extra special. The confidence has been there for the last couple of months and maybe even the last six weeks, so that just adds another layer to it going into the second half of the year.
This week is massive for me. It’s a home event and I’d like to think the conditions at the moment – a bit of wind – favours the Scots. I am also relatively familiar with the course, having played probably seven or eight times before coming up here this week. Also, on the back of last week, prep-wise hasn’t been as hectic as it normally can be at a tournament. I walked nine holes yesterday and will play the front nine this afternoon. Due to the high winds, there’s not been too much going on the last couple of days.
It is always nice to see friendly faces and, if you can give them something to shout about, you can feed off that positive energy as well. I think I can use the home support to my advantage again.
Calum Hill: It’s always nice to play at home and when I saw this event on the schedule, I was very happy. I’m looking forward to it and it should be a good week.
This is a ball strikers’ course and it’s so important to keep your ball in play off the tee. It’s great to have my family and friends here this week and it’s nice to know that the people watching are on your side.
It’s been great to get a win under my belt this year and if I can put some good results together towards the back end of the year it would be a successful season. I really want to earn dual membership with the PGA TOUR and I’m within striking distance.
