World Class Field in Portugal

Major Champions, Ryder Cup players and a host of European Tour winners will gather at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Club, Vilamoura, for the inaugural Portugal Masters from October 18-21, battling for the lion’s share of a €3 million prize fund. Double US Open Champion Retief Goosen of South Africa, former Open Champion Paul Lawrie of Scotland and two time Masters Champion José Maria Olazábal of Spain, three of the game’s elite golfers having triumphed in a Major Championship, headline the impressive field ready to pit their skills against the Arnold Palmer-designed course. Goosen won the US Open Championship in both 2001 and 2004 and also topped The European Tour Order of Merit in 2001 and 2002. Lawrie secured his place in golfing history with a magnificent victory in the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie, overcoming a ten stroke deficit in the final round before winning in a four hole play-off, while Olazábal won the Masters Tournament at Augusta National in 1994 and 1999. Olazábal has also played in seven Ryder Cups, most recently at The K Club last September where Europe won by a record equalling nine point margin, and the Spaniard will be joined in Portugal by four of his European team-mates from that memorable match in Ireland, namely Darren Clarke, David Howell, Paul McGinley and Lee Westwood, who is in fine form having won twice on The 2007 European Tour International Schedule, at the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia in May and The Quinn Direct British Masters in September, to take his victory haul to 15 European Tour titles.
A host of other winners from the 2007 season will also be in action, including the English duo of Justin Rose, who captured the MasterCard Masters in Australia for his third European Tour title and Nick Dougherty, who triumphed over an international gathering to claim the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews last week. Other 2007 winners in action in Vilamoura include the English duo of Ross Fisher and Graeme Storm, Scotland’s Marc Warren, Frenchmen Grégory Havret and Raphaël Jacquelin and the Spanish trio of José Manuel Lara, Pablo Martin and Alvaro Quiros, all ably supported by their compatriot and 13 time European Tour winner Miguel Angel Jiménez, who will make the short journey across the border from his home in Malaga. The distinctively ponytailed Jiménez is popular with the crowds wherever he plays but he will not be the most fervently supported player in the Portugal Masters, that honour undoubtedly going to local favourite José-Filipe Lima. The 25 year old won the 2004 Aa St Omer Open but at that time was still representing France, having been born in Versailles. But with both his parents Portugese, Lima opted to change nationality at the end of the 2004 season and has not looked back, improving his Order of Merit position in both 2005 and 2006, and also representing Portugal in the 2005 World Cup alongside Antonio Sobrinho. “My mother and father are both Portugese and I love this country, that is why I made the change,” said Lima, who will aim to become only the second Portuguese winner in European Tour history after Daniel Silva who won the 1992 Jersey European Open. “It is important to play for yourself in golf, obviously, but it is also important to play for your family.” As well as the established stars, the Portugal Masters will also welcome some of the most exciting new talents on The European Tour, including the swashbuckling Argentine Andres Romero, who came within a whisker of claiming the Open Championship at Carnoustie before winning the following week in the Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship of Europe at Gut Kaden in Germany. The Portugal Masters will be the first tournament to be played at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Club, Vilamoura, since the 2005 World Cup in Portugal and the Welsh duo of Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge, who memorably triumphed on that occasion, will both return. A field of 126 players will compete for the €3 million prize fund with a first prize of €500,000. The Portugal Masters further enhances Portugal’s commitment to The European Tour, with the country already having hosted two other tournaments on The 2007 European Tour International Schedule, the Madeira Islands Open BPI, won by Argentina’s Daniel Vancsik, and the Estoril Open de Portugal, won by Spain’s Pablo Martin.