Before the eyes of the golfing world turn to Le Golf National for The Ryder Cup next week, the European Tour heads to the Algarve for the 12th edition of the Portugal Masters.
Traditionally, players go low around the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, with an average winning score of 20 under par from the 11 previous editions. Andy Sullivan recorded a staggering nine-shot victory in 2015, making 26 birdies along the way, while two players have come close to scoring 59 in recent years – Scott Jamieson and Nicolas Colsaerts in 2013 and 2014, respectively. With plenty of red numbers expected again this year, we should be in for another exciting edition.
Sergio Garcia and Thorbjørn Olesen are set to tee it up in Vilamoura ahead of next week’s Ryder Cup, with previous winners Sullivan and Padraig Harrington also in the field.
Ahead of Thursday’s first round, our stats guru has crunched the numbers and selected three players who could improve your Fantasy team.
Favourite: Lucas Bjerregaard
The phrase ‘trending in the right direction’ best sums up Lucas Bjerregaard’s game right now. The 27 year old has three top ten finishes in his last three events. Prior to finishing runner-up to Matt Fitzpatrick at the Omega European Masters last week, Bjerregaard was sixth at the Made in Denmark and was tied for ninth at the D+D REAL Czech Masters. In that time, he is 46 under par with a scoring average of 67.5.
Factor in that Bjerregaard is returning this week as defending champion and there is clearly a solid case for making him favourite in Portugal. He finished in the top four in Driving Distance and Greens in Regulation in Vilamoura last season and arrives this week after recording similarly impressive numbers from his runner-up spot in Switzerland two weeks ago. Nobody hit more Greens in Regulation than the Dane in the mountains (84.7 per cent) and he is currently 12th in that category for the season (73.9 per cent). If he carries that strong tee-to-green game into this week he has a real chance of becoming the first player to claim bac-to-back Portugal Masters titles.
Form horse: Tom Lewis
It’s hard to believe it was seven years ago when Tom Lewis won the Portugal Masters in just his fifth European Tour appearance. Although Lewis has not been able to replicate that early promise, he secured a Challenge Tour victory at the Bridgestone Challenge two weeks ago and arrives in Portugal with reason to be confident. Lewis has some other notable results of late; he finished tied for third at the Swedish Challenge hosted by Robert Karlsson last month, before claiming sixth at the D+D Real Czech Masters on the European Tour, then tied third again back on the Challenge Tour at last week’s Kazakhstan Open presented by ERG.
Although Lewis has not scaled the heights of that win in Vilamoura since, he could be set for a good week given his strong recent form; the 27 year old has a stroke average of 69.12 on the Challenge Tour this season. With three finishes inside the top six in his last four events, there’s no doubting Lewis is a man in form.
Wildcard: Nacho Elvira
Like compatriot Jorge Campillo, it’s hard to believe Nacho Elvira is still waiting for a first win on the European Tour. A play-off defeat at the Trophée Hassan II in 2016 is the closest the four-time Challenge Tour winner has come to claiming that first victory at the top table, but recent form heading into an event he has performed well at previously suggests Elvira’s breakthrough is just around the corner. Before a missed cut at the KLM Open, the man from Santander in northern Spain finished tied 24th at the Nordea Masters, tied 18th at the D+D Real Czech Masters and outright fourth at the Omega European Masters. A Sunday 66 in the latter event put him in the mix, but ultimately was not enough for that elusive win. That his form should be so promising heading to Vilamoura is reason enough to back him to fly under the radar this week.
His last two visits to the Algarve have yielded two top tens, including a tie for seventh last season. Elvira’s last eight rounds on the course have all been sub-70, with a scoring average of 67. Positioned in 61st place in the Race to Dubai Rankings, the 31 year old can play pressure-free golf this week knowing he’s on a course that suits his eye. Watch this space…
