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
