DID YOU KNOW – PORTUGAL MASTERS
• Andy Sullivan will attempt to become the first player to successfully defend the Portugal Masters.
• Sullivan’s nine shot winning triumph in the 2015 Portugal Masters was the biggest victory margin of the 2015 European Tour season.
• When Sullivan claimed the Portugal Masters crown it was his third European Tour success of the season. He became the seventh golfer in European Tour history to win their first three titles in the same season and first Englishman to achieve this feat.
• The 2014 Portugal Masters was the second European Tour title of that season for Frenchman, Alexander Levy. This victory meant he became the first Frenchman to record multiple European Tour victories in the same season.
• The 2014 Portugal Masters was reduced to 36 holes due to inclement weather and was the tenth official European Tour event to be curtailed to 36 holes. This was the second time during the 2014 season an event was played over 36 holes. The other was also on Portuguese soil, at the Madeira Islands Open – Portugal – BPI.
• Scott Jamieson came within a whisker of the first official 59 at the 2013 Portugal Masters. The Scot’s round of 60 was the 18th official score of 60 in European Tour history.
• Tom Lewis claimed his first European Tour title in just this third event as a professional at the 2011 Portugal Masters. This matched the European Tour record for a player winning in the fewest amount of events since leaving the amateur game. Alejandro Cañizares won on his third outing in the paid ranks at the 2006 Russian Open.
• Playing on as sponsors invitation in 2011, Lewis then aged 20 years and 284 days became the third youngest Englishman to win in European Tour history, behind Paul Way (19 years and 149 days – 1982 KLM Open) and Sir Nick Faldo (20 years and 30 days – 1977 Skol Lager Individual).
• When Shane Lowry won the 2012 Portugal Masters beating Ross Fisher by one shot, he joined Pablo Martin Benavides as the only two players to have won on the European Tour as both an amateur and a professional. Lowry won the Irish Open in 2009 as an amateur in his very first European Tour appearance.
• When Richard Green won the 2010 Portugal Masters he became the second left-hander to win that year, following Phil Mickelson at the Masters Tournament. This marked the first time in European Tour history two left handed players had won in the same season.
• The Portugal Masters is known for its low scoring. Taking out the 2014 event, the average winning score is 266.
