"GOLF IN PORTUGAL" - NEWSLETTER - Nº 70

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

General - Algarve
November is the month when normally local courses become less busy as visiting golfers take a break leading up to the Christmas and New Year celebrations. Nevertheless, some large international events take place at this time of the year for both professionals and amateur golfers along the Algarve. Two of these took place over the same week: the TAP Open and the PGA European Senior Tour Qualifying School.

This was the 30th anniversary of the TAP Open and the biggest amateur golf event at present in the country. At its inception, Portugal was recovering from the effects of the 1974 revolution which practically paralysed the sport. (I remember going with friends to play a round of golf on the Aroeira course near Lisbon in 1974 but were unable to as people were picnicking on the fairways). Anyway, the Portugal's flagship airline decided that a golf tournament would be a good way to attract golfers back to the country and the result was positive. Hundreds of players from all the destinations to which TAP flies, many of them Portuguese living abroad, come over to Portugal to take part in this somewhat gruelling amateur golf event – 72 holes of medal play over four different courses preceded by the option of two practice rounds. year the tournament courses were the Oceânico Pinhal, Millennium and Victoria in

Vilamoura plus Vale do Lobo's Ocean course, and 380 golfers. The overall net prizes for men and ladies went to Rui Magalhães (S. Africa) and Ursula Maisel (Germany) respectively. Frances Cooper from Switzerland was the Hole-in-One success of the tournament.

In the Seniors Q-School, there were two rounds of first stage play at the Pinheiros Altos and Quinta de Cima courses with the leading 56 players joining 22 others for the 4-round final stage played over the

Vale de Pinta course on the in Carvoeiro. Like the TAP Open, the finals were affected by one day with thunderstorms, requiring 54 holes to be played over the last two days to complete the event. This inconvenience obviously affected the overall results since the winner, 54-year-old Bob Larratt from England, had a considerably high winning total of 281 (3 under par). Five more players gained full cards for the 2008 Tour. Englishmen John Hoskison, Ian Mosey and Jeff Hall, Jimmy Heggarty (N. Ireland) and Paraguay's Angel Franco, elder brother of Carlos Franco, a USPGA Tour player. Conditional cards were earned by the next eleven players, including two amateurs from England, Matt Briggs and Martin Galway.

The Álamos course on the Morgado golf complex near Portimão was once again the venue for the finals of the Bader Cup on 7th November. For the first time in the 21 years this mixed pairs tournament has been played, a brother and sister duo came in top in the finals. A total of twelve pairs battled for the coveted trophy after winning regional qualifying events throughout the UK. Eleanor (22 hcp.) and Matthew Harrison (+1 hcp.) from Burghill Valley Golf Club, qualifiers at the Bransford, Worcester regional final, came home with 39 Stableford points. Their score was two points ahead of Lisa Russell-Steele and Mick Prior, members of the Skipton G.C. and winners of the Birchwood regional event. The weather was perfect, but mastering the challenging greens proved to be the deciding factor in the final results. The event was organised by John Southwick, founder and Tournament Director of the competition and although Lady Bader, now in her early 90s, was unfortunately unable to attend this year for health reasons, Keith Delderfield, Director of Operations for the Douglas Bader Foundation, the benefiting charity of this competition expressed his gratitude on behalf of DBF to the sponsors Monarch Scheduled, Tivoli Lagos Resort and Golfe de Morgado who will also support the 2008 finals

This year, the Grande Troféu Vilamoura, one of the most important international amateur tournaments in Portugal is being staged in two distinct events, one immediately after the other. The first one started on 30th November and finished on 2nd December, and the second is played from 4th to 6th December. Both are 54-hole medal play competitions with rounds played at the Oceânico Victoria, Millennium and Old Courses, and the programmes include welcome cocktail parties, prize-giving ceremonies as well as dinners with shows at the Vilamoura Casino. Prizes are being awarded for the best three net scores overall, and also in three handicap divisions for both men and ladies, as well as the best overall gross score. So, there is plenty to play for at Vilamoura for this the 20th year the tournament is being contested, albeit in this new twin format.

The 12th "Glenfiddich & Dom Pedro" Cup took place on the Vila Sol Course with 80 invited golfers. Pairs Leonel Rio and Getúlio Jorge were the outright winners. Rui Cabeçadas was the winner in the 9th "Cidade de Lagos" Trophy held on the Palmares Course.

General - Lisbon & North Portugal & Portuguese Islands
On the 1st of November the 13th "Portucale Stone" Trophy took place on the Ribagolfe I Course near Lisbon.  The winner was Ron Goddard with 35 points and third time he has won this Trophy. David Gray was placed second with Sally Buxton in third place. Brita Flach scored her 7th Hole-in-One on the 15th.

A field of 140 golfers competed in a competition organised by the Association of Portuguese Architects on the Belas Course. Victor Manuel Mah took the first prize followed by Manuel Di Petro. The Luso-Spanish Chamber of Commerce held their 12th Competition on the Belas Course which was won by Emílio Fernandes whilst second place was shared by José Ramon Baranano and Marta Lampreira.

The Autumn Tournament took place on the Oporto Course and was won by Adelino Ribeiro followed by Joaquim Capela with four points less. The Ponte de Lima Course was the scene of the 3rd "Ramos Pinto" Trophy which was won by Luís Mesquita, with Pedro Barbosa in second place. The 8th "Centenário" Cup was held at Lisbon Sports Club and was won by João Morgado followed by Gonçalo Marcos.

International News
It is interesting to note that for the first time each of the top 25 golfers in the 2007/8 Volvo Order of Merit gained over a minimum of €uros 1.000.000 during the season - this healthy record has been created by the steady increase in the prize money being put forward by the many Sponsors.

England's Justin Rose won a three-way play-off after a dramatic final round of the Volvo Masters at Valderrama. Victory in the sudden-death play-off over fellow Englishman Simon Dyson and Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen was achieved with a birdie on the second extra hole. With this, his second win of the 2007 European Tour Season, Rose won the European Tour Order of Merit and climbed 5 places to World Number 7.

US Open Champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina birdied the final hole to lift the Asian Tour's Barclays Singapore Open title by a stroke from Vijay Singh of Fiji at Serapong Course. This victory took Cabrera to Nº 14, a jump of 3 places while Singh reclaimed his listing in the Top 10.

Stephen Ames won the final official event of the 2007 PGA TOUR season in great style with a spectacular sand save on the 18th hole when his 60-foot bunker shot to land three feet on the 72nd hole. This sealed the win leaving Tim Clark with his third second-place finish of the year. Ames improved his Ranking by 19 positions to Nº 30.

Richard Johnson from Wales won the Nationwide Tour Championship and with the win secured the Top spot in the Nationwide Tour Money List for 2007. Johnson also climbed from Nº 182 to Nº 118.

World Number 2, Phil Mickelson, won the HSBC Champions in Shanghai at second play-off hole to edge out Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood and claim his first overseas title in 14 years. The 37 year old American birdied the 538 yard 18th second time around to see off the challenge of the two Englishmen after all three players had ended the regulation 72 holes on ten under par 278. This win closed the gap between Mickelson and Tiger Woods to 12.44 points.

Brendan Jones from Australia picked up his seventh career victory on the Japan Golf Tour and his second of the 2007 season at the Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters. His one stroke victory took Jones to Nº 80 with a jump of 68 places.

Miguel Angel Jiménez claimed his victory at the UBS Hong Kong Open for the second time by a single stroke from Robert Karlsson, K.J. Choi and Thongchai Jaidee. The win took Jimenez back into the Top 50 with a 21 place jump to Nº 39.

England's Ian Poulter won the Dunlop Phoenix on the Japan Golf Tour and he moved in Ranking with an improvement of 9 positions to Nº 20.

South Africa’s Trevor Immelman achieved a home success in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City when he held off England’s Justin Rose by a single stroke. The two 27 year olds went into the final round sharing the lead and were still deadlocked on the 72nd tee. Immelman climbed 3 places to Nº 19 while Rose improved by one place spot to Nº7.

The 2002 English Amateur Champion Richard Finch claimed his first professional title with a three stroke victory in the Michael Hill New Zealand Open, co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and the European Tour. Finch climbed 240 places to Nº283.

Brendan Jones from Australia picked up his third Japan Golf Tour win of the year with a stunning final round of 61 to beat 2007 Money Ranking winner Toru Taniguchi by a single stroke. Jones continued his advance up the Ranking with a 21 position jump to Nº60.

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