Wood seen as great chance in Portugal
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2010 Estoril Open de Portugal | Preview | 09 Jun 2010
The European Tour heads back to Continental Europe this week for the Estoril Open de Portugal at the Robert Trent Jones Penha Longa Golf Club in the hills about 45 minutes west of Lisbon and only 15 minutes or so from the Atlantic Ocean.
The tournament is being played at Penha Longa for the first time since 1995 when it was played for the second of two occasions at this venue.
With the US Open now only a week away there are none in this week’s field who have a start at Pebble Beach but that in itself creates opportunity for the players who are here, none more so than Chris Wood who is seeking his first European Tour victory.
Wood has played very well in recent weeks, top ten finishes in Italy, Mallorca and at Wentworth followed by an average week last week when he finished off the Wales Open in disappointing fashion. He is expected to win before too long in Europe and opportunities do not come much better than this.
Robert Rock is another seeking his first win on the European Tour and like Wood he is closing in on such an achievement very quickly. He has been 4th and 5th at his last two starts in Wales and Madrid and should do well again.
Nicolas Colsaerts had a superb year on the Challenge Tour in 2009 and that form has carried over to this season. He is only now truly finding his feet in the game and if he can get over blowing the chance last Monday to qualify for the British Open he could figure in the finish. After an opening round of 64 on Monday he lost his way and missed one of the ten places available at St Andrews.
Others I like are Oliver Fisher and Graeme Storm.
Australasians in the field are Richard Green, Marcus Fraser, Scott Hend, Mark Brown, Gareth Paddison, Chris Gaunt, James Mclean and Andrew Tampion. All get their chance in this field weakened by the absence of Europe’s leading players.
