The European Tour and Challenge Tour combine this week in Portugal at Morgado Golf Club for the return of the Open de Portugal. The event is taking place for the first time since 2010, when Thomas Bjørn took home the title.
156 players will tee it up on Thursday, with some of the best from the Challenge Tour hoping to notch their first European Tour win in a co-sanctioned event. The 7,400 yard course is soft and offers players five par fives. Scoring should be low and with that in mind our stats guru has selected three players for your Fantasy team consideration.
Pick of the favourites: Ricardo Gouveia
View player profile
Portugal's number one player, Ricardo Gouveia, arrives in his native country as the local favourite this week. The 2015 Challenge Tour Number One has ranked as high as 77th in the world in recent months and will hope to notch his first European Tour win on home soil. Having finished in the top 15 in two of his three Final Series starts in 2016, Gouveia's form this season has been solid but the 25 year old is yet to string together four quality rounds to contend. He has three straight top 30 finishes and finished in the top 25 in his last start in Portugal at last October's Portugal Masters. Gouveia has been working hard on his putting in recent weeks and his statistics suggest he is making some progress on the greens, both in Putts per Round and Putts per GIR. Don't be surprised if he is in the hunt come Sunday afternoon.
Form horse: Justin Walters
View player profile
Long-hitting Justin Walters arrives at Morgado Golf Club in good form. The South African has two top 15 finishes in his last four starts and will feel at home in Portugal, where he notched his highest ever European Tour finish back in 2013, when he was runner-up to David Lynn at the 2013 Portugal Masters. In four appearances in Portugal, Walters has finished in the top 25 on three occasions. At 36 years old, Walters is hitting the ball further (297 yards on average) and finding more fairways (54 percent) than he did last year. If he finds the short grass this week, he could find himself in the hunt.
Wildcard: Tom Lewis
View player profile
Many people will remember Tom Lewis for his performance at the 2011 Open Championship. At just 20 years old he led the field after shooting the lowest ever Major round by amateur with a 65 in the first round. He would finish as low amateur that week and go on to win his first European Tour title, in just his third start as a pro, at the Portugal Masters later that year. Since then, he perhaps hasn't lived up to expectations but there have been signs of his immense potential in recent months. He finished in the top ten in his first start of the season at the Australia PGA Championship, and finished in the top 20 in South Africa in his next start. Lewis threathened a 59 last year in Denmark when he was 12 under par after 13 holes in the opening round and clearly has all the tools to contend again.
Those are our picks, now it’s time to make yours. Whether you are playing theFantasy Race to Dubaior our newDaily Fantasy Game, be sure to make your picks before the event begins on Thursday. Good luck!
