The Challenge Tour hits the Iberian coast for the 23rd event of the season, the Open de Portugal. With just six events remaining on the Road to Mallorca ahead of the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final a, sextet of Irish head out to Royal Óbidos for the four days of action from the 12th to the 15th.
Conor O’Rourke comes into the tournament, his 12th of the season, off the back of a pair of missed cuts in Germany and Poland. The 23-year-old has work to do over the final few events if he is to have any look at heading to Mallorca. Cormac Sharvin will take part for the first time since an impressive fifth place finish at the First Stage – Millenium Golf in Belgium in August after back-to-back 65s over the weekend. He will hope to carry that momentum into the week on the Atlantic coast.
Jonathan Caldwell sits in 58th spot in the R2M rankings after two missed cuts. He carries some form despite these though, with a top-25 and a T4 at the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge just last month. Dermot McElroy is another man in form despite missing the weekend in Germany. His second spot at the Rosa Challenge capped off a run of three top 10 finishes for the Ballymena man. He sits in 28th on the OOM with his eye on a promotion spot of his own.
Ronan Mullarney will look for an improvement in form in Portugal with the Leopardstown man on an unenviable run of five missed cuts on the bounce heading back to July. Kinsale GC man John Murphy too could do with a rub of the green this week to get a bit of momentum having missed out on weekend golf since a tie for 38th at the Irish Challenge in August.
The six are among a strong field teeing it up in Portugal, including the duo of Joel Moscatel and John Parry looking to emulate the exploits of Dane, Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson last week, and clinch a third Tour victory of the season, and with it, automatic promotion to the DP World Tour. There will be a new name on the trophy for 2024 with the defending champion Marco Penge not taking part.
Moscatel spoke about his season, having qualified through q-school last November, with a third spot in Australia on the DP World Tour coming the following week. “I was feeling really good at the beginning of the season,” he said. “I knew I could do well, but I didn’t think about how many times I could win,” said the 25-year-old Spaniard. “Having the Challenge Tour card and playing well in Australia gave me a lot of confidence, but it was just nice to have a card and be able to play the full season.”
He sits in fifth spot on the rankings heading into the event and was asked about his ambition for the remainder of the season. “I’m in a great spot,” he reflected. “But the pressure is not off because you want to finish as high as you can to get into the good tournaments next year. In this new situation I’m just trying to do my best, accepting all things, and trying to finish as high as I can. A third win would be amazing. That is a goal, but at the same time winning depends on a lot of things. As I’ve experienced twice this year, you have to be in that position to win but sometimes you can’t control everything.”
Royal Óbidos has played host to the Open de Portugal since 2020 and this Seve Ballesteros designed course is set to put up a stern challenge for the field. A 7,222-yard walk awaits around the coastal course with intricate waterways of lakes and streams meaning accuracy on approach will be tested.
The course will play a 35-36 split with three par-threes on the outward nine to attack. The shortest of which is the tempting 160-yard sixth hole. A pair of fives on either nine lurk to test the pack including a pair at 569-yards on the homeward nine culminating with the final hole.
The action kicks off on Thursday morning with the opening three-ball hitting the course at 7.50am. First up of the Irish contingent, starting on the first hole will be Caldwell at 8.50, followed ten minutes later by Sharvin. O Rourke and McElroy head out from the 10th at 8am and 8.50 respectively. Mullarney and Murphy head out together in the afternoon swing at 12.40 as the first day on the coast gets into gear.
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