Borja Virto will be looking to replicate the form that saw him claim his first European Challenge Tour title when the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge returns to Penati Golf Resort from July 4-7.
In 2015, the Spaniard clinched victory in Slovakia by chipping-in from the back of the 72nd green to pip Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia by a single shot.
The win marked the start of an exceptional season for Virto, who would go on to claim his second Challenge Tour title at the Foshan Open and earn a promotion onto the European Tour.
It is a bittersweet return for the talented 28-year-old who, despite missing the cut by a single shot at last week’s Italian Challenge Open Eneos Motor Oil, is confident that coming back to the scene of his first victory can inspire a return to winnings ways.
‘’A win here was huge for me,’’ he said. ‘’To come to Slovakia and get my first win on the Challenge Tour propelled my season and was the start of great things in 2015. It’s really cool to be back here. It was a special win for me, especially managing to chip in on the last green.
‘’The last couple of weeks I’ve missed the cut, but I don’t feel like my game is too far away from where it needs to be, so hopefully I can use the good memories from winning here to pull off something special.’’
Garrick Porteous also has plenty to draw inspiration from this week after closing with a new course record of 61, 11 under par, when the tournament was last staged at Penati Golf Resort in 2016.
The Englishman, who also recorded a hole-in-one on the 12th hole of the Jack Nicklaus-designed course in 2015, will tee it up just two days after topping the leaderboard at Final Qualifying for The 148th Open Championship at St Annes Old Links.
He is one of a trio of English players in the field this week who earned the three coveted Open Championship spots available at the Lancashire venue, with Matthew Baldwin and Jack Senior also securing their place at Royal Portrush.
Meanwhile, Antoine Rozner will be looking to secure his European Tour card a week after narrowly missing out on an automatic promotion at the Italian Challenge Open Eneos Motor Oil. The Frenchman, who tops the Challenge Tour rankings, has two wins to his name this season, at the Challenge de España and Prague Golf Challenge and two further top-ten finishes.
The D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge begins tomorrow at 7:30 am local time, with Borja Virto getting his title bid underway at 1:20 pm.
