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General News
The English amateur team retained the Portugal Nations Cup, sponsored by the
government Tourist Board and played at Vale do Lobo's par-73 Ocean Course.
The English golfers were pushed all the way by the young Portuguese team
whose star player, Pedro Figueiredo, came down with a bronchial virus a few
days before the tournament. Seventeen-year-old Pedro had won the Boys
Amateur Championship in the UK in August after an epic final at Little
Aston, by defeating Scot Fraser McKenna at the 39th hole.
English player Eddie Pepperell also fell victim to a virus on the eve of the
team's departure from the UK, and his substitute Sam Hutsby was forced to
make a last minute dash to catch a flight to Faro to join the team.
England's winning aggregate score for the 54-hole stroke-play event was 413,
with Portugal (419) in second place followed by the Netherlands (422) whose
team included the current British Amateur Champion, Reinier Saxton.
The very young home team comprised 17-year-olds José M. Joia (Vilamoura) and
Tiago Rodrigues (Oporto), plus Figueiredo's replacement, Miguel Gaspar
(Estoril) who is aged only 16. The best individual score of 14 under par 205
(70-67-68) was carded by Luke Goddard (England), only one stroke ahead of
Dutchman Saxton (67-72-67). Joia (Portugal) came in third with 210 strokes
in spite of scoring 77 in the final round. Joia (Portugal) came in
third with 210 strokes in spite of scoring 77 in the final round.
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Teams from seven countries took part in the inaugural Taça das
Nações (Nations Cup) a 3-day tournament organised by Golf Algarve
magazine and sponsored by the CS Group, owners of the Salgados,
Morgado and Álamos golf courses. The scoring did not match that of
the above tournament (perhaps this had something to do with to the
special shirts provided for each of the three rounds since the
colour was the currently fashionable pink!). However, this did not
deter the English team who won with an aggregate score of 475
Stableford points, followed by Portugal (468) and Ireland (447).
Each day was played in a different format – four ball better-ball,
greensomes and singles - since it was played during the Ryder Cup
month.
Portugal's Challenge Tour players Tiago Cruz and Ricardo Santos went
to Poland in late September for the 72-hole Omega Mission Hills
World Cup Qualifier staged at the Sierra Golf Club in Wejherowo.
Thirteen countries took part in this qualifying tournament with two
rounds played in foursomes and two in four-ball better ball, the
format used for the World Cup. With adversaries such as Switzerland,
Norway and Belgium in the mix, the Portuguese duo closed with a
tally of seven under par 281 strokes and third place behind the
winners Finland (267) and runners-up Canada (275). These three
countries have therefore qualified for the main event at Mission
Hills in China from 27th-30th November. Portugal last played in the
World Cup as host country when it was held in Vilamoura in 2005.
Imminent official openings are for the two courses at Oceânico's
Amendoeira Resort, one having been designed by Nick Faldo and the
other by Christy O'Connor Jr. The opening of the third Quinta do
Lago course is also due in the near future and some club members
have already had the chance to try it out. This course is
tentatively being called the Laranjal (Orange Grove) but this name
may possibly be superseded later by another.
The Quinta do Vale course is being officially opened on 12th October
and the designer, Seve Ballesteros will attend the festivities which
include a pro-am on the date. Golfers will have the opportunity to
play a competition on this course on Saturday the 11th with the main
winners gaining invitations to enter the pro-am the following day.
Five of Europe’s Ryder Cup Team will be here in the Algarve for the
upcoming 'Portugal Masters': Miguel Angel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson,
Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood and Oliver Wilson. This prestigious
tournament is being played from 16th to 19th October at the Oceânico
Victoria Course, and long-hitting Angel Cabrera, the 2007 US Open
winner, nicknamed El Pato (The Duck) and who played the Victoria
course in the curtailed 2005 WGC World Cup, will also tee up in the
€3,000,000 event.
Last year's highly successful Portugal Masters was won by Steve
Webster, and the Nuneaton native will be back to defend his title
and attempt to re-capture the form he demonstrated on that occasion.
An interesting novel charity event, the Iberian Men's Senior Open,
has been announced for western Algarve from 14th to 19th January
2009 including arrival and departure days for those coming from
outside the Algarve. It is a 54-hole tournament with three ages
groups (50 to 59-year-olds, 60 to 69-year-olds and over 70s) and is
being promoted by the 'Golf for Greys', and this new event has been
approved by the Portuguese Golf Federation. It will be played in
rotation on the Sir Henry Cotton Championship course at Penina, Vale
da Pinta and Morgado courses. These courses will also be used for
practice rounds on 15th January before the competition commences.
All funds raised will be donated to the children's charity, 'Castelo
dos Sonhos' in Silves. Accommodation packages are available for
golfers and non-golfers at the Le Méridien Penina Hotel - details
can be found by clicking on the link VIP below.
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Robert Karlsson claimed his first European Tour victory for two years in the
Mercedes-Benz Championship at Gut Larchenhof in Cologne, Germany. He closed
with 71 for a total of 13 under par and two shot victory over Italy's
Francesco Molinari. The six foot five inch Swede had been six clear at one
stage but Molinari birdied four holes in a row from the 12th. Karlsson
headed to Valhalla for his second Ryder Cup as World Number 17, a rise of
5 places.
With a closing round of 64 Chris Tidland won the Albertsons Boise Open on
the Nationwide Tour by four shots over Scott Piercy. Tidland jumps into the
World Top 300 with a 211 place improvement to 298th. A wire-to-wire victory
at the inaugural Qingdao Golf Open, the first of his European Challenge Tour
career, provided Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin with the perfect present
on his 28th birthday. The win took him to Nº 178, a upward move of 88
positions.
Will Mackenzie won the Viking Classic at Annandale Golf Club, Madison, after
a Play-Off with Marc Turnesa and Brian Gay. The three had tied on
19-under-par 269 three strokes ahead of the nearest challengers. The win
takes Mackenzie to Nº 185, a jump of 148 places, while Turnesa moved to Nº
261 and Brian Gay to Nº 97.
This week's other winners were Azuma Yano at the ANA Open on the Japan Golf
Tour, Matt Bettencourt at the Oregon Classic on the Nationwide Tour, Lu
Wen-Teh at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters on the Asian Tour and Gary Lockerbie
at the Kazakhstan Open on the European Challenge Tour.
The ever-exciting Ryder Cup between the USA and Europe took place from the
19th to the 21st of September at the Valhalla Course in the USA. As we all
know, the Cup was successfully retrieved by the USA with a win of 16.5
points against Europe's 11.5.
Colombian Camilo Villegas stormed from five strokes behind in the final
round before beating Sergio Garcia in a play-off to win the Tour
Championship. Villegas had eight birdies on his way to a closing
four-under-par 66 and Garcia joined him on seven under par with a 71. As
well as securing second place in the FedEx Cup with his second consecutive
win Villegas jumped 10 places to 7th in the Ranking.
Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño won the Quinn Insurance British Masters at The
Belfry after a play-off with Lee Westwood. The Spaniard started the final
round three shots behind the defending champion but a brilliant final round
67 took him level with Westwood on 12 under par. The victory took
Fernández-Castaño to 91st place in the Official World Golf Ranking, an
improvement of 68 places.
This week's other winners were Hideto Tanihara at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic
Open, co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour and Asian Tour, and Taco Remkes
at The Dutch Futures on the European Challenge Tour.
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