Portuguese Open in a golf course designed by Seve Ballesteros – Royal Óbidos
We are proud to announce the 58th edition of the Portugal Open 2020 tournament at the Royal Óbidos Golf Course, Seve Balesteros design. situated near the historic town of Óbidos.
The Portugal Open Tournament was founded in 1953 and when the European Tour was born in 1972, it was immediately one of the founding events of the main European golf circuit.
Royal Obidos Golf Course
The Portuguese Open 2020 at Royal Óbidos will take place from September 17 to 20, with Pro-Am on Wednesday, September 16. 144 players will be up for grabs for the € 200,000.00 prize money in a 72 hole (four round) tournament with the Cut after 36 holes where the top 60 players (+ draws) qualify.
Some of the biggest stars in the world today played at the Portuguese Open, such as Martin Kaymer, Matt Wallace, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington, Ricardo Melo Gouveia and Pedro Figueiredo (currently on the European Tour). We’ll release more news soon.
The 46-year-old Englishman, is one of the biggest golf champions ever in Vilamoura, and joins his compatriots Eddie Pepperell and Andy Sullivan, the 2015 winner.
Westwood will make his first appearance at the Portugual Masters tournament since winning ten years ago in the Algarve his 30th international title, while Sullivan earned his third European Tour trophy at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course in 2015, with a huge advantage of 9 strokes over the second – a record in the Portugal Masters.
In 2009, Westwood broke a two-year career in Portugal without a European Tour win, beating italian Francesco Molinari by two shots, thanks to three rounds -6 par for an aggregate of -23 par, the second best result ever in Vilamoura tournament history.
That victory catapulted him to a peak that culminated, later that season in a Race to Dubai victory and became No. 1 European Tour player of the Year. The following year, he became the first Englishman since Nick Faldo in 1994 to rise to the top of the world rankings.
“I have happy memories of Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course from my win there in 2009,” said Westwood, who had reached 26 top-tens between his 2007 British Masters and Portugal Masters triumphs in 2009 without raising any trophy during that period.
“I had a series of ‘almost’ between these two wins and that made me very happy to have finally crossed the line in Portugal,” he added.
Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course
“Many players have been telling me about how this tournament has grown in recent years and I look forward to returning and witnessing this growth. It also gives me the opportunity to prepare for the Nedbank Golf Challenge title defense (November 14-17 in South Africa). So I’m excited about this week (in Portugal), ”concluded the 46-year-old, who has 43 titles in his career, including 24 on the European Tour and 2 on the PGA Tour.
As for Andy Sullivan, who was Westwood‘s partner in the 2006 European Ryder Cup team at Hazeltine (United States), he was almost becoming the first and only player to win the Portugal Masters in consecutive years.
After the win in 2015, interestingly also 23 under Par as Westwood, the 32-year-old British was runner-up in 2016, just one shot from Irishman Padraig Harrington, another of the illustrious holders of the Portuguese golf tournament, with three Majors in is career.
“The Portugal Masters is an event I always look to when the calendar is announced,” said Sullivan. “It’s a big tournament and it’s always nice to be back in a golf course where we’ve won before. I always take my family with me and they enjoy being there as much as I do – and it never hurts to have extra support when we compete, ”added the most smiling golfer.
“This tournament gives us the opportunity to start winning an eland for the last three tournaments of the year. I really want to finish the golf season hard and this event is the ideal platform for that, ”concluded Sully’, winner of three international golf titles. Eddie Pepperell, for his part, has won twice on the European Tour and also confirmed his presence at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, with the aim of maintaining his top-50 status in the world golf ranking, which gives him access to Majors and the World Golf Championships.
Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course
The Portugal Masters 2019 will then have the presence of a luxury English quintet if we had Tom Lewis double winner at the Victoria golf course and title defender, and Oliver Fisher who last year in the Algarve became the first player completing a golf round in 59 shots on the European Tour.
Also new is the presence of Thomas Bjorn, the captain of the European team that won the Ryder Cup in 2018 in France. Bjorn won the Portuguese Open in 2010 and is a veteran with 21 international titles.
Portugal Masters tickets are available from 8€ for ages 12 to 17; 17€ for promotional tickets and 20€ for adults.
Lucas Bjerregaard has pledged to return to the stage of his first European Tour victory and will defend Portugal Masters title at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course in September 20-23.
The Danish produced one of the best displays of his career to win in Vilamoura last year and now seeks to enter history and become the first player to revalidate the title of the Portugal Masters. Bjerregaard came to the Algarve a year ago in a delicate situation, trying to keep his European Tour card for this season, but he found his best form at the right moment and reached the last round of the tournament with the lead secured by a 1 shot.
Already twice the 27-year-old player had seen himself in that leading position at the entrance for a final round, having finished 2nd at the UBS Hong Kong Open in 2015 and tied for 3rd at the Volvo China Open in 2017. This time he did not falter and fired 8 birdies in a last round of 65 strokes to close the tournament with an aggregate of 20 under Par, beating Marc Warren for 4 strokes.
Lucas Bjerregaard – Winner of the Portugal Masters 2017
After this victory, Bjerregaard reached another six top 10 on the European Tour, namely a 3rd place (tied) in the BMW PGA Championship, his highest ever rating in a Rolex Series tournament. “Portugal Masters is a special event for me and I look forward to trying to defend my title,” he said. “My last round of last year is one of the best ever. Some of the shots I did under pressure were some of the best I’ve done in a long time. I really enjoyed being able to confirm my lead in the tournament after the third round and take that trophy, having already been in that position before without being able to take advantage of it, “he added. “Since then I have been able to add some more good results this season and I would love to repeat the one made at Dom Pedro Victoria, “concluded the Danish who this year is not having any difficulties in keeping is European Tour card and is well placed in the top 40 of the Race for the Dubai of 2018. Portugal Masters was born in 2007 and in its list of champions they appear winners of Majors like the Irishman Padraig Harrington, the former # 1 Lee Westwood of England and his compatriot and partner on Ryder Cup team Andy Sullivan.
The two million euro prize money tournament returns for the 12th consecutive year to the course designed by the champion Arnold Palmer. Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, an authentic golf sanctuary in the south of Portugal. Tickets for the 2018 Portugal Masters are on sale until Sunday, September 16th for those who wish to enjoy a reduced price, but also at the entry desks of the tournament.
