BY HUGO RIBEIRO
The 62nd edition of the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos stands out for having the largest list of participants since the event, organized by the Federação Portuguesa de Golfe (FPG), began being held at the course designed by the late Seve Ballesteros in 2020.
In that year, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 120 players, which increased to 132 in 2021 and 144 in 2022 and 2023.
In 2024, the number will rise to 156 players, restoring the number from the editions held at the Morgado Golf Resort in the Algarve between 2017 and 2019.
The Open de Portugal will take place from September 12th to 15th, with the always popular Pro-Am kicking off tomorrow (the 11th) at the Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort.
It is the most important Portuguese golf tournament and one of the oldest on the European professional circuit calendar, dating back to 1953.
This year, it offers prize money totaling 270,000 euros and awards points for the Challenge Tour ranking (Race to Mallorca), the Official World Golf Ranking, and the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The FPG tournament was one of the founding events of the European Tour (now DP World Tour), which was founded in 1972.
Due to a lack of funding, it wasn’t held from 2011 to 2016, but it was revived in 2017 and has since played a key role in the national golf development program.
The Challenge Tour’s commitment to bringing so many players back to Portugal in 2024 indicates the tournament’s prestige. After last year’s struggles to keep it alive, all partners worked together to ensure its survival in 2024.
Open de Portugal in detail
“One of the major goals for 2024 was to hold the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos. The reduction of state support by around 80,000 euros last year could have definitively impacted the event this year. However, with increased support from Royal Óbidos and the European Tour, along with efforts to strengthen partnerships, we made it possible. It was difficult and at risk, but here we are,” said FPG president Miguel Franco de Sousa.
“It is the only major professional event held in Portugal, and everyone should aim to increase the number of major golf events in the country, as the sector’s impact on the national economy cannot be ignored. According to numbers shared by the National Golf Industry Council (CNIG) president, Nuno Sepúlveda, golf’s contribution to the Portuguese economy now exceeds 4 billion euros. At the FPG, we will do everything to bring back tournaments on the DP World Tour, the Ladies European Tour, satellite circuits, or other large-scale events to showcase our courses and country to the world,” added Franco de Sousa.
In this 62nd Open de Portugal, quantity is matched by quality. Last year, it featured perhaps the best edition ever of the Challenge Tour (European professional golf’s second division), with eight of the top 10 players in the ‘Race to Mallorca.’
This year is the same, with seven members of that elite group, and only the eighth is missing because Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen moved up to the DP World Tour (Europe’s top division) last Sunday.
As highlighted by LUSA news agency this morning, “the spotlight is on the experienced Englishman John Parry, ranked second in the ‘Road to Mallorca,’ the Challenge Tour’s rankings. He has already won two titles at the Deli Challenge and the Blot Open in Brittany this season. Along with the 37-year-old Brit, the only Portuguese tournament eligible for the Challenge Tour will also feature Danish player Hamish Brown, ranked 4th in the ‘Road to Mallorca,’ Spaniard Joel Moscatel (5th), Swede Mikael Lindberg (6th), South African Robin Williams (7th), Frenchman Alexander Levy (8th), and Englishman Jack Senior (10th).”
The number two in the Challenge Tour ranking, John Parry, is one of two players at Óbidos who have already won two titles this season. The other is Spaniard Joel Moscatel. A third title in 2024 would automatically propel them to the DP World Tour, Europe’s top division. This happened to Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen last week when he won the Big Green Egg German Challenge powered by VcG and moved up to Europe’s first division.
This feat, winning three titles in a single season on the Challenge Tour, hasn’t been achieved since 2017, and the Scandinavian’s success will surely motivate Parry and Moscatel even further to do the same. Parry won the Delhi Challenge in March (India) and the Blot Open Brittany in June (France), while Moscatel claimed the Challenge España in May and the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in June (France).
The Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos will feature nine players who have won a total of 11 titles from the 22 tournaments held so far in 2024 on the Challenge Tour. It will be a summit of champions!
In addition to John Parry and Joel Moscatel, we have the names of Rhys Enoch (Wales), winner of the SDC Open in South Africa in February; Bjorn Akesson (Sweden), champion of the NMB Championship in South Africa in February; Mikael Lindberg (Sweden), winner of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open, in South Africa in February; Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen (Denmark), the top finisher in the Challenge de Cádiz, Spain, in June; Hamish Brown (England), winner of the Kaskáda Golf Challenge in the Czech Republic in June; Frank Kennedy (England), who triumphed at the Euram Bank Open in Austria in July; and Christopher Blomstrand (Sweden), who prevailed at the Vierumaki Finnish Challenge in Finland in August.
Photo by: Rodrigo Gatinho (Federação Portuguesa de Golfe).
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