A field packed with Ryder Cup stars, European Tour winners and home-grown heroes will descend on the Algarve next week for the tenth edition of the Portugal Masters.
Record-breaking rookie Thomas Pieters and defending champion Andy Sullivan will bring Ryder Cup pedigree to Oceânico Victoria Golf Course, together with three men who formed part of Europe’s backroom team at Hazeltine National, Thomas Bjørn, Padraig Harrington and Paul Lawrie.
Sullivan will be keen to replicate his scintillating display from last year, when he romped to victory by a tournament record nine shots. His Ryder Cup team-mate Pieters, the big-hitting Belgian who set a new record by collecting four points from five matches on his debut, finished in a tie for sixth place last year.
The duo will be joined in Vilamoura by former Portugal Masters champion Alex Levy, who recently took his tally of European Tour titles to three with his victory in the Porsche European Open.
Levy won the Portugal Masters two years ago when it was curtailed to 36 holes due to heavy rain, finishing on 18 under par courtesy of rounds of 63 and 61.
Last month in Germany, the Frenchman birdied the second play-off hole to overcome Ross Fisher at another weather-affected tournament, the Porsche European Open. The victory made Levy only the second player in European Tour history, after Paul Lawrie, to win over 36, 54 and 72 holes.
Other star names in the line-up include in-form Swede Alex Noren, who has won twice this year and finished in tied 11th place in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last week, big-hitting Spaniard Alvaro Quiros – who is attached to Oceânico Victoria Golf Course – and his compatriot José Maria Olazábal.
Having been side-lined for 18 months since last year’s Masters, a tournament he won on two occasions, Olazábal will continue his comeback from injury in the Algarve.
Former Ryder Cup stars Victor Dubuisson and Jamie Donaldson will add further lustre to the line-up. Donaldson has finished inside the top ten in each of his last three visits to Oceanico Victoria Golf Course, whilst Dubuisson registered a top-20 finished on his last appearance in 2013.
Ricardo Gouveia, currently 93rd in the Race to Dubai and virtually guaranteed a place on the European Tour next term, will lead the home challenge.
