Ricardo Gouveia will have his father on the bag at this week's Portugal Masters as the home favourite fights to save his playing privileges on the European Tour.
The 27 year old finished top of the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2015 and followed that with a very respectable 54th on the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex in his rookie campaign on the European Tour.
He needed the Access List to keep his card last season and currently sits 132nd, with four events left to get into the vital top 110, starting this week at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course.
Gouveia has started working with coach Hugh Marr and also parted company with caddie Nick Mumford, with his father Tomas taking the bag for the rest of the season.
Gouveia Snr was caddie for his son for some of his glorious 2015 season and after discussions with his brother Tomas - currently 20th on the Pro Golf Tour Order of Merit - Ricardo is glad to have his biggest supporter back on the bag.
“My father will be my caddy here and until the end of the year,” he said. “It was a decision I made when I stopped working with Nick Mumford. I wanted a person who knew me well and I had already had good experiences with and there is no better person than my father, so I feel pretty good with him.
“I spoke directly to my father and my brother, who at that time might also have wanted the support of my father, but I think he noticed the situation and for this year things will be different. I'll get a professional caddy but I wanted to calmly go through the process and then my father will be able to keep up with Tomas.
“My coach is Hugh Marr and he's here with me, we've been working since Monday. We've been tinkering with these little things and I feel a lot more confident and positive. And being here in Portugal, the support of the Portuguese public will give me a great boost.”
Gouveia's tie for fifth here last season was part of a closing run of five made cuts in his last seven events as he kept his place on Tour, and he will be looking for similar again this week.
I wanted a person who knew me well and I had already had good experiences with and there is no better person than my father - Ricardo Gouveia
The Portugal Masters has historically been a low-scoring event with two near-misses at 59s in recent seasons but with more testing rough lining the fairways this week, Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course is likely to prove a much tougher test.
Gouveia, however, believes that will suit his game as he looks to recreate some of that good form from the end of last summer.
“I have great memories of the fifth place last year, especially the back nine on Sunday,” he said. “Looking at this situation last year, the way that day went, I can use those good memories to get back to where I need to be.
“It's playing a little bit tougher this year, I think the rough being Bermuda around the fairways makes it a bit tougher on the players to judge the lies and how far it's going to go. Overall it's a good set-up and I'm looking forward to the challenge.
“I have four tournaments to go and I know the position I am in and I know I need a good solid finish to be on the European Tour again next year. I'm going to embrace it as a challenge, as an opportunity to get better. I did last year so there is no reason why I can't do it this year.”
