New Portugal Masters receives good support
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2007 Portugal Masters | Preview | 16 Oct 2007
The 2007 European Tour nears its climax when it plays the inaugural Portugal Masters at the Arnold Palmer designed Victoria Club de Golfe on the Algarve coast in southern Portugal. Vilamoura is a multi golf course resort located 20 kilometres from Faro and is based on the Gulf of Cadiz.
This tournament is one of the final two chances for those players looking to achieve money list milestones, this being the second last full field event of the year before the Volvo Masters in two weeks time.
The field gathered this week is a reflection of the significant purse (€3 million) on offer for an event at this time of the year.
The tournament favourite is likely to be Justin Rose perhaps because he is the highest ranked player in the field but also because of the remarkably good year he has had in 2007. He has not won in 2007 but in late 2006 he won in Australia and has been three times runner up in big events this year. He finished runner up at the Dunhill Links event in Scotland two weeks ago and although beaten in the first round of the World Matchplay last week, he stands a good chance in this event.
Lee Westwood has often played well in the south of Europe and has been in particularly good form in recent weeks including his win at the British Masters. He has been a big improver in 2007 and if that improvement continues this week then no-one will be surprised.
Retief Goosen deserves respect because of his standing in the game but that standing has slipped in 2007. He is now outside the top 20 in the world and his recent form has hardly been encouraging. It is hard to get excited about his chances this week.
Nick Dougherty has been playing very consistently of late and won at the Dunhill two weeks ago. He is having his best season as a professional and it might continue this week.
Soren Hansen has been brilliant in the latter part of the season with seven top tens in his last ten starts. A continuation of that form will see him in contention once again while the ‘boy wonder’ Rory McIlroy gets another chance to become the youngest player to win on the European Tour. His third place at the Dunhill and a fourth placed finish last week in Madrid give an insight into how good he will be and that winning is not beyond him despite his young age.
The Australians are headed by recent winner Brett Rumford, who edged out Phillip Archer to win the Omega European Masters a month ago. He is joined in the field by the leading Australian last week in Madrid, Marcus Fraser, Peter O’Malley, Matthew Millar and Terry Price.
