Golf in Óbidos

Challenge Tour confirms Portugal Open in September 2021

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Royal Óbidos Golf Course. Challenge Tour

Royal Óbidos Golf Course

Challenge Tour

The Challenge Tour announced its complete calendar for 2021 and confirmed that the Portuguese Open will be held from 23rd to 26th September, at the Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort.

According to Miguel Franco de Sousa, president of FPG, the Portuguese Open is a fundamental instrument in the federative policy to support the development of young Portuguese golfers.

In 2021, the Portuguese Open at Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort is particularly well placed on the calendar to attract the best players on this circuit.

After Óbidos, there will only be three more qualifying tournaments for the Grand Final of the Challenge Tour, which will take place in Palma de Mallorca from 4th to 7th November.

But more importantly, there is still no competition on that date from 23rd to 26th September of European Tournaments, as the Ryder Cup will be taking place at the same time in the United States. Therefore, there are good chances that some players from the European first division will head to Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort in search of competition.

As for the complete competitive framework of the second division of European professional golf, now presented, it will consist of 25 tournaments spread over 15 countries, mostly in Europe (20), but also with three stages in South Africa and two in China.

This is a longer calendar than last year, which was greatly affected by the pandemic. In 2020 there were only 11 tournaments, while in 2019, in a year still without COVID-19, 27 championships were played.

The 2021 Challenge Tour starts only in April, surely to allow time for the fight against the third wave of the pandemic. The so-called South African swing was postponed from February to April, exactly when it is desired that the South African strain of the SARS-CoV2 virus can be more controlled.

The novelty is that the inaugural South African swing tournament, which still has no name or venue, will be the Limpopo Championship, from 22nd to 25th April, at Euphoria Golf Club, in Modimolle. This is followed by the Cape Town Open and Dimension Data Pro-Am. These three tournaments are simultaneously part of the Challenge Pro-Am. These three tournaments are part of both the Challenge Tour and the Sunshine Tour, the first South African golf division.

There are three great news in the new Challenge Tour season: three new tournaments in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom; promotion to the top level (the 2022 European Tour) increase from 15 in 2019 to 20 at the end of 2021; and all tournaments will now have to be held under the protocol defined by the European Tour’s Health and Safety Program.

Tee Times Golf Agency calls your attention to the “Royal” beauty of the Royal Óbidos Golf Course, named by its designer and world golf legend player Severiano Ballesteros. Adding to the golf course the superb offer of accommodation, the resort is a magnificent place for a memorable golf vacation with unbeatable golf packages.

Still in Óbidos we cannot forget the luxurious Marriott Praia d’el Rey Hotel located overlooking the calm and luminous Atlantic ocean and its impetuous golf course.

Source: Hugo Ribeiro / Tee Times Golf (teetimes.pt) para Record

Portuguese Open in a golf course designed by Seve Ballesteros

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Portuguese Open 2020. Royal Obidos Golf Course

Royal Obidos Golf Course

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.

Portuguese Open 2020. Royal Obidos Golf Course

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.

World Kids Golf

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World Kids Golf - Opening Ceremony of the 2019 edition. Photo by Ramiro de Jesus

Opening Ceremony of the 2019 edition. Photo by Ramiro de Jesus

World Kids Golf

Martim Baptista defends his title with 80 players from 14 countries

Martim Baptista returned to the place where it all started for him a year ago – the Amendoeira Golf Resort in Silves – and he will try to defend the title of World Kids Golf.

The most historic and prestigious Portuguese junior international golf tournament started on Tuesday its 11th edition with 80 players from 14 countries.

World Kids Golf - Martim Baptista

Martim Baptista

When a year ago the Portuguese player from the Vale de Janelas club (in Óbidos) won in the under-18 event, it was a sort of a surprise, but in the meantime, much has happened in his amateur career, and last month he played for the first time on the Portuguese national team in both the Manuel Agrellos Cup and the Boys European Championship.

«I have great memories of this tournament last year because I played among friends. I know almost every player of my age in this tournament. What happened in this last year is that I’m studying in the 12th grade, with a lower workload, and allowed me to train golf a lot. I also feel that I am calmer, more thoughtful, more careful in my decision making on the course and I have been playing better, ”said Martim Baptista, coached by Luís Barroso, who also guides the careers of famous Portuguese professionals such as Tiago Cruz and João Ramos.

Playing in the heat, on the Faldo Course, the hardest of the two courses at Amendoeira Golf Resort, designed by former world No.1 Nick Faldo, Martim Baptista began defending his title with a first round of 76 strokes, 4 over Par, which leaves him in 6th place, 7 shots behind the leaders, the Portuguese Alexandre Castelo and the Norwegian Peter Hov, both with 69, 3 under Par.

World Kids Golf - Opening Ceremony of the 2019 edition. Photo by Ramiro de Jesus

Opening Ceremony of the 2019 edition. Photo by Ramiro de Jesus

“Obviously I would like to defend the title, but I am here to play the best I can, because there is always the possibility that someone will play better, even if I play well. This under-18 tournament has very good players and I didn’t play very well on this first day. I felt nice from tee to green, but then I was unable to finish and I did not “putt” very well. I hit a lot of greens but that didn’t translate into the score I wanted and I missed a few birdies, ”said the Portuguese international who is facing the situation of defending an international title for the first time.

World Kids Golf is one of the rare Portuguese junior international tournaments to give points to the world amateur ranking. The tournament director Nelson Cavalheiro – who last month joined the PGA Portugal national team in the Manuel Agrellos Cup – is pleased with what he saw at the start of the competition.

“I am happy, it is already our 11th edition, we have a lot of dynamics and today we have not made the course too difficult regarding the pin positions. The playing conditions are good, the weather is good and we have also prepared the courses very well for this tournament ”, said Nelson Cavalheiro, who promised“ even better prizes in 2019 than in 2018 ”, confirming only that the U18 Tournament Champion will once again get an invitation to play in the Portugal Pro Golf Tour tournament held at the Amendoeira Golf Resort, thanks to the renewal of our partnership with the PGA Portugal.

World Kids Golf - Opening Ceremony of the 2019 edition. Photo by Ramiro de Jesus

Opening Ceremony of the 2019 edition. Photo by Ramiro de Jesus

The World Kids Golf is held on both Amendoeira Golf Resort courses and has a strong support from the Algarve Tourism Board, the Portugal PGA, the Portugal Pro Golf Tour, Under Armor, Titleist and FootJoy.

The youngsters play on the easyer O’Connor Course, while the Faldo Course is reserved for the older ones, with under-9, under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16, and under-18 tournaments in both genders. In this tournament, the gross prevails over the net, although there are also prizes for the net standings.

The tournament had its first round today. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the the second round and, for those who wish, there is a tournament for teams of fathers and sons / daughters in the evening. Thursday is a day off for players to rest and also to allow the families to to get to know better the region. The final round will be on Friday.

The leaders of the 11th World Kids Golf after the first round are as follows:

Under-9, Ffion Richardson (England) with 9 points stableford gross and Francisco Reis (Portugal) with 23 points;
Under-10, Eleanor Lichtenhein (England) with 24 points stableford gross and Aaron Moody (England) with 31 points;
Under-12, Inês Belchior (Portugal) with 23 points stableford gross and João Crasi Alves (Portugal) with 37 points;
Under-14, João Iglésias (Portugal), 71 strokes, 1 under par;
U16, Emilie von Finckenstein (Germany), 73 strokes, 1 over par, and Jamie Mann (Scotland) with 70 (-2);
Under-18, Filipa Capelo (Portugal) with 76 strokes, 4 over par, and Peter Hov (Norway) and Alexandre Castelo (Portugal), both with 69 (-3).