Stage set for European eTour Portugal Masters final

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The stage is set for the finals of the first European eTour event of the season, with the top eight qualifiers ready to play for the Portugal Masters title on Thursday.

The Portugal Masters is the first event of the 2021 European eTour schedule, with players competing on the world’s most popular online and mobile golf game, World Golf Tour (WGT) by Topgolf.

After a five-week qualification process, the top eight players will compete in a single-elimination knockout bracket, with the eventual winner receiving a $5,000 first prize.

JSmithers of the United States, a finalist in two of the European eTour’s events in 2020, is the top seed in this week’s final and will take on Denmark’s Hanstest in the first quarter final match.

“We play for fun, but my expectation is to win,” said JSmithers. “I know Hanstest from other tournaments, he is a very good player.

golfx3 and JSmithers at a European eTour live event

“I’m not just the favourite against him, I’m the favourite in every match. If I play my game, I’m tough to beat. I hope to win a couple of events this season, I’ve been practicing a lot and I’m very positive after earning the number one seeding for these finals.”

Young46 and Shefuf will face-off in the second quarter final, with the winner going on to play either fmagnets or Rebellion27. In the fourth quarter final, thunderbird faces the unenviable task of taking on golfx3, who has been the leading competitor on the European eTour over the last 18 months.

Golfx3, real name Payton Gordley, won five European eTour events in 2020, earning more than $50,000 in prize money during the season.

“I’m looking forward to the season, I hope it goes as well as it did last year,” said golfx3. “The format is more difficult now and you need to win every match you play. I haven’t set any goals but I hope to win just one tournament. We’re going to see a lot more players this year because the game is becoming more popular.

“I’m a little nervous for the first event – that qualifying stage was very nerve-wracking and I just managed to squeeze through. There are a lot of good players in this event. I predict big things for fmagnets this season, he’s been playing better and better, so he’s the one to look out for.”

The winners of each quarter final will progress to the semi-final, with the two remaining players competing for the $5,000 first prize. The live broadcast of the finals will begin at 15:00 UTC, with the final match scheduled for approximately 17:20pm UTC.

In partnership with esports specialists DreamHack Sports Games and Topgolf Entertainment Group, the 2021 European eTour schedule will feature five more events across the year with the Global Finals taking place in December.

Click here to follow the action from this week’s European eTour Portugal Masters quarter final.