The Portugal Masters, a tournament valid for the European Tour being held this week at the Oceânico Victoria Golf course in Vilamoura, will be attended by five Major winners and twenty Ryder Cup players, a luxury line-up that will mark the fifth edition of the event.
It will be the third time that Martin Kaymer, sixth in the world ranking and winner of the US PGA in 2010, who finished tied seventh in his debut in 2007, will play it. Alongside the German will be Irishman Padraig Harrington, who has three majors on his record and was third in his last appearance in 2009.
Fellow Major winners John Daly, Paul Lawrie and José María Olazábal will take part, while Harrington and Kaymer will be joined by four teammates from the 2010 Ryder Cup team: England’s Ross Fisher, Sweden’s Peter Hanson, Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Italy’s Francesco Molinari, along with captain Colin Montgomerie.
Two two two-time champions and a three-time winner this season will also meet at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Club course, in what promises to be a great tournament: Simon Dyson, Alex Noren and Thomas Björn.
Björn’s recent resurgence in Europe was forged on Portuguese soil, specifically in Estoril, where the Dane won the Portuguese Open in 2010, a triumph that proved to be the catalyst for his three subsequent victories in 2011: Qatar Commercialbank Masters presented by Dolphin Energy, Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and Omega European Masters.
Thomas Björn says that “last year’s victory in Portugal was very important in my career; I hadn’t won for four years and that title meant a lot. This time I come to the Algarve in fantastic shape and I’d love to take a fourth win”.
The Englishman Steve Webster, who won the inaugural edition in 2007, dedicating the victory to his mother who died five months earlier, Álvaro Quirós, who succeeded him on the list of winners in 2008, and the Australian Richard Green, who is defending his title, complete the field.
Frederico Costa, Vice President of Turismo de Portugal, main sponsor: “We are pleased to welcome this magnificent line-up of players who will celebrate with us the fifth anniversary of the Portugal Masters, a tournament that continues to climb steps and will serve to show the world not only the quality of Oceânico Victoria Golf Club and the Algarve, but the whole golf offer in our country”.
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