"GOLF IN PORTUGAL" - NEWSLETTER - Nº 68

Welcome to the September 2007 edition of the monthly "Golf in Portugal" Newsletter.

General - Algarve
The main 2007/8 autumn golf season is now in full swing and the courses will be almost all busy until the end of November when there obviously will be less visitors during the build-up to Christmas and the New Year festivities.

By far the most significant golf event this year in the Algarve is in October. It is the staging on the Oceânico Victoria Course in Vilamoura of the inaugural "Portugal Masters", a PGA European Tour event, from October the 18th to 21st. As widely advertised on Eurosport and other TV channels, the Masters venue is taking place on this popular Arnold Palmer designed course and is was on this same course that the 2005 "WGC World Cup" was played. Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd, who won together the international event for Wales, will also take part in this new tournament. The following golfers are also on the entry list at the time of writing: Justin Rose, Retief Goosen, Darren Clarke, Andres Romero, Richard Sterne, José Maria Olazábal, Robert Karlsson, Lee Westwood, Paul Lawrie, David Howell, Kenneth Ferrie, Phillip Price, Jeev Milkha Singh, Paul McGinley, Simon Dyson, Johan Edfors, Jean van de Velde, Paul Broadhurst, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, Francesco Molinari, Thomas Björn, Markus Brier, John Bickerton, Marc Warren, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Charl Schwartzel, Nick Dougherty, Thongchai Jaidee Peter Hanson, Jean-François Remesy, Raphaël Jacquelin, Anton Haig, Portuguese Open champion, Pablo Martin, Graeme Storm, Grégory Havret, Ross Fisher, Søren Hansen, Rory McIlroy, Brian Davis, Sandy Lyle, David Frost, Phillip Archer, Jarmo Sandelin, Peter O'Malley, Garry Orr, Marcel Siem, Brett Rumford, Ricardo Gonzalez, Damien McGrane, Simon Wakefield, José Filipe Lima, Stephen Gallacher, Marcus Fraser, Peter Lawrie, Jyoti Randhawa, Maarten Lafeber, Oliver Wilson, Mark Foster, Alastair Forsyth, Robert-Jan Derksen, Christian Cévaër, Tom Whitehouse, Andrew McLardy, Miles Tunnicliff, Christian Nilsson, Grégory Bourdy and Gary Murphy. The final list of entrants will be announced only about a week before this €3 million event.

As planned, the impressive new club house at Boavista Golf Resort was officially opened. Located by the 18th green, it affords beautiful views over the course and the coastline near Lagos. The building boasts extensive locker rooms, a 150-seater restaurant, private function room and a well stocked golf shop. There is also a heated indoor pool, gymnasium, steam room, sauna and spa as well as extensive sunbathing terraces and a children’s outdoor pool. Boavista Resort’s Managing Director Phillip Pope said “The resort now has a focal point with first class facilities all under one roof and has given us the opportunity to offer even more services to our property owners, members and visitors”.

The Lexus PGA Portugal Tour event sponsored by Oceânico Developments and held at the Oceânico Pinhal Course in Vilamoura. It ended in a resounding win by Vale de Lobo pro, António Sobrinho, with a 13 under par 72-hole and a total of 275, whilst the runner-up Hugo Santos was 12 strokes behind. The top 21 pros in the tournament took part in a Pro-Am on the following day and the team comprising amateurs A. Glen, C. Ball and J. Russell with pro Scott Taylor came in first when they carded a net score of 54 strokes.

The inaugural "Portugal Nations Cup" organised by the Federation of Portuguese Golf was held on the Ocean course in Vale do Lobo. A total of 16 teams defended their respective countries. Both England and Ireland drew for 1st place on the 18th green. However, a count-back gave the edge to England and winning the Cup.

General - Lisbon & North Portugal & Portuguese Islands
The Belas Golf Course just north of Lisbon, was the scene of the semi-finals of the"Expresso BPI Golf Cup". Four teams of four fought out the competitive battle with the two winners, Team Novabase and JM Castelo Branco & P. Ferro & Associados, will take place on the Terceira Course in the Azores.

The Royal British Club Golfing Society members competed for the 27th peter "Dawson Bowl" on the Aroeia I course just south of Lisbon. The winner this year was Ed Robbins with 36 points. The Newstead Cup which is also competed for on the same day was won by Victor Campos. The Estoril course was the annual scene for the much sought after 13th "Chatham Trophy". This intriguing prize is based on the birthday of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter who led a Dutch fleet up the Medway in England in 1667. They destroyed most of the English fleet including the "Royal Charles", the flagship and the pride of the English fleet. On this occasion the English team led by Carol Mason won and retained their victory over the Dutch team led by Auke Bos.

The first Pairs Championship was held in Porto Santo off Madeira and was won by Paulo Silva and Ricardo Mendonça.

The Visabeira Turismo Team were the winners in the Beiras regional finals of the "World Corporate Challenge" which took place on the Montebelo course near to Viseu. The two young Portuguese professionals, Tiago Cruz and António Rosado, both successfully passed the second phase in the "European Circuit Qualification School". Unfortunately, 2007 Portuguese National Champion António Sobrinho failed in his third phase in the same School.

António Machado will be representing his country in the 2007 "Special Olympics" in China. He is a Down Syndrome sufferer but has a ardent love for the game of golf. He has been well supported within Portugal with many courses acting as hosts in his training - we wish him every success.

The "Champeonato Nacional de Clubes" was held on the Aroeira I and was won by the Morgadinhos Team placing the Oporto Team in second place.

International News
The Portuguese Seniors Golf Team gained fifteenth place, in Gothenburg in Sweden, in the 26th "European Seniors Golf Championship". Italy took first prize and was followed by Great Britain and Spain.

World Number One Tiger Woods won the third of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the Fedex Cup with an outstanding final round of 63, this was 8 under par. The win was Wood's 60th PGA Tour victory.

Australian Brett Rumford chipped in on the first extra hole to defeat Phillip Archer from England and take the European Masters title at Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland. Rumford and Archer had finished on 16 under par 268, a stroke ahead of defending champion Bradley Dredge of Wales. Rumford climbed 128 places in the Golf Ranking to Nº 145.

Hideto Tanihara won his second consecutive tournament on the Japan Golf Tour at the Suntory Open.  Tanihara continued his climb up the Ranking to Nº 81, and improvement of 25 places. Iain Pyman also won for a second straight week as he becomes the fifth two time winner on the 2007 European Challenge Tour and moved to Nº 296 with his win at the Telia Challenge Waxholm.

Lee Westwood won the Quinn Direct British Masters at the Belfry with a final round of 65 for a 15 under par 273 total securing a five shot triumph from Ian Poulter, who shot 70 for a ten under par 278. Westwood climbs 13 places to 35th in the Official World Golf Ranking while Poulter jumps 4 spots to 27th.

Steve Flesch won for the second time in 2007 after a final round of 73 gave him a two stroke victory at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in Verona, New York. The left hander moved to Nº 87 with this fourth PGA Tour win, an improvement  43 places. The week's other winner was Leif Westerberg at the Kazakhstan Open on the European Challenge Tour.

Chad Campbell won the Viking Classic, part of the PGA Tour's Fall Series, with a final round of 69 for a single stroke margin of victory over Johnson Wagner. With this his fourth PGA Tour win, Campbell climbed to Nº 67, a jump of 30 places.

Camilo Villegas from Columbia made a successful visit to Japan where he triumphed in the Coca-Cola Tokai Classic in a play-off with Toyokazu Fujishima after the pair had tied on 2-under-par totals of 282. Villegas climbs 10 places to Nº 56.

Scotland’s Peter Whiteford secured the first European Challenge Tour victory of his career at the Dutch Futures tournament in Holland. The win improved his World Ranking by 319 positions as he jumped to World Number 489.

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