Golf Holidays, Golf breaks, green fees and tee times Online - Portugal & Spain

It starts today, 15th January, with the 1st Drive Tour Tournament / National Youth Championship, at Amendoeira Golf Resort.

The return of the Hyundai National Championship to the Aroeira Pines Classic in Almada is one of the novelties on the official 2022 calendar of the Portuguese Golf Federation (FPG), which kicks off next Saturday, January 15, with the 1st Drive Tour Tournament/National Youth Championship at Amendoeira Golf Resort in Silves.

It is an extensive competitive schedule, with 107 tournaments spread throughout the country, including the autonomous regions, not counting the Drive School events, which are more geared towards the promotion of the sport in schools, than to a "pure and hard" competition.

And if to the FPG events we add the Portugal Masters (still to be confirmed), at least three national professional tournaments organized by other entities and the new Portugal Tour (an international professional circuit in the Algarve), the total number of golf tournaments for top competition in Portugal in 2022 should approach 120.

The federative calendar can be divided into seven major sectors that cover players of all age groups: International Championships, National Championships, FPG Circuit, Mid-Amateur Circuit, Drive Tour/ National Youth Championships, Drive Challenge and Pitch & Putt.

There will also be an intense activity of national teams of all age groups, both amateur teams, as well as the recent project of the national team of professionals; and there will also be, increasingly, the participation of Portuguese players in international competitions, both in amateur circuits and in the main professional circuits.

"We will have, roughly, a calendar very similar to that of 2021, with the big difference that 2022 will be a World Championship year", underlined João Coutinho, the national technical director of the FPG.

In fact, the "World Amateur Team Championships" will be held in France, on the outskirts of Paris, on the Albatros golf course of Le Golf National and also on the Red Golf Course of Saint-Nom-La-Brèteche Golf.

The women's World Championship, the 29th edition of the Espírito Santo Trophy, will be held from August 24th to 27th, while the men's World Championship, the 32nd edition of the Eisenhower Trophy, will take place from August 31st to September 3rd.

Portuguese Open and Portugal Masters

The highlight of 2022 will be the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos, for the third consecutive year on that Óbidos Golf Course, designed by the late Seve Ballesteros. The only Portuguese tournament of the Challenge Tour, which always attracts the elite of the second European division of professional golf, is scheduled from September 15 to 18.

The Open de Portugal, an FPG tournament, could eventually become the most important Portuguese golf event in 2022 because the Portugal Masters has not yet been included in the 2022 calendar of the DP World Tour (the former European Tour).

There is, however, an unfilled vacancy on the DP World Tour calendar between October 20 and 23 and, it should be remembered, in 2021, the Portugal Masters was only definitively confirmed about two months before it was due to take place. The same may happen in 2022.

Portugal International Amateur Championships

Right at the beginning of the year, as usual, the 92nd Amateur International Championships of Portugal will inaugurate the calendar of the European Golf Association (EGA), at the Montado Hotel & Golf Resort, in Palmela.

The women's tournament runs from January 26 to 29 and the men's from February 9 to 12. Traditionally, many of the best European amateurs travel to Portugal for these two tournaments.

The importance of the Portugal International Amateur Championship for the best Portuguese amateurs, who can amass important world ranking points there - as has been seen in recent years, with the triumphs of Vítor Londot Lopes and Daniel da Costa Rodrigues, respectively in 2018 and 2019 - means that the FPG seeks to provide them with the best possible preparation.

FPG Circuit and other professional tournaments

In this sense, the 1st FPG Circuit Tournament has been scheduled for February 5 and 6, at Montado Golf Course, three days before the International Men's Amateur Championship of Portugal.

"This event will serve to prepare the field and the players for the International Amateur. The decision to make this tournament at Montado Golf Course followed this strategy", confirmed João Coutinho.

The FPG Circuit has always brought together the best amateurs playing in Portugal, but since 2021 it has raised a qualitative level by also integrating professional players. It has become the new jewel in the FPG calendar and the 2021 experience was extremely positive.

"I've prepared well. Now it's about letting my golf show"

The 92nd International Women's Amateur Championship of Portugal starts Wednesday and runs until Saturday on its traditional stage at the Montado Hotel & Golf Resort, in Palmela an excellent destination for your golf holidays. In the national hosts, the attentions are focused on the absolute national champion Sofia Barroso Sá, only 17 years old and number 228 in the female amateur world ranking. In the last edition (held in May and not in the last week of January, as is usual due to the pandemic), she obtained the best classification of a Portuguese woman since, in 2008, the tournament changed its format from match play to stroke play.

The previous best Portuguese mark belonged to Marta Vasconcelos (Oporto GC), with a 13th place precisely in 2008, in an edition held in Benamor Golfe Course and which had only 55 participants. In 2021 there were 104 participants and Sofia played four rounds without losing to the Par 72 of the course, totalling 285 (-3) strokes (72-71-70-72) and reaching the top 10, with the same aggregate of the French Charlotte Liautier, who won in March the International Amateur in Italy and who played exactly the same results.

Sofia could have been 11 shots behind the winner, France's Lucie Malchirand, who scored -14, and 7 shots behind the runner up, also Frenchwoman Vairana Heck, with -10. But only five strokes separated her from third, Spanish Andrea Revuelta Goicoechea (-8). Lucie Malchirand was from another galaxy, as two weeks later she would commit the feat of winning the Ladies Italian Open, of the Ladies European Tour, the main European professional circuit for women.

Lucie Malchirand became professional in the meantime, so she will not be present in Montado Golf Course to defend her title. But among the 90 competitors in this 92nd Portugal International there are several players of global renown, such as the Scottish Louise Duncan, currently ranked 19th in the world and champion of the Women's Amateur Championship, one of the amateur majors; the South-Korean Jeong Hyun Lee, 28th in the world; or the Italian Franc Francesco Domenico, 28th in the world. South Korean Jeong Hyun Lee, 28th in the world; or the Italian Francesca Fiorellini, 56th in the world, who won several titles in 2021, including the French Under 21 International, and was 10th in the last Portugal International, one stroke behind Sofia Sá. Also competing is the 2021 runner-up Vairana Heck.

In the following interview, the Portuguese star from Belmonte, in Castelo Branco district, but representing the Quinta do Lago golf course, in the Algarve, where she has her coach, José Ferreira, puts aside any additional pressure, even if this is her last chance to shine in the Portugal International. In August she will go to the USA, to Texas Christian University, in Fort Worth, to study and play for the Froggs golf team, following in the footsteps of her arch-rival Leonor Medeiros, who has been at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, since last summer.

Besides Sofia Sá, the national team in Montado Golf Course, led by the National Assistant Coach Hugo Pinto, counts with Ana Costa Rodrigues (CG Miramar), Constança Mendonça (CG Orizonte Golf Courses), Francisca Rocha (Oporto Golf Course), Inês Belchior (Quinta do Perú Golf Course), Ivete Rodrigues (Verdegolf) and Luciana Reis (Miramar Golf Course).

"San Roque is the quality golf destination in the province of Cádiz". This was stated by the Mayor of San Roque, Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, together with the Delegate for Tourism, Ana Ruiz, at the presentation of the municipality's offer at the Provincial Council stand.

On the second day of the International Tourism Fair, under the slogan "San Roque, where emotions reside" have been unveiled a promotional video, the new tourist guide and a publication aimed at children, in addition to the new website of the Municipal Delegation of Tourism. In addition, Puerto Sotogrande and La Cañada Golf Course have presented their offer of adapted sports.

The mayor, Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, the Councillor for Tourism, Ana Ruiz, and the director of Puerto Sotogrande, Miguel Angel Diez have presented both initiatives today, Thursday, at the stand of the Commonwealth of Municipalities in the International Tourism Fair in Madrid. On the one hand, it is the School of Golf Adapted La Cañada, a veteran project that seeks to grow both in participants and services. And on the other, the School of Sailing Adapted, a collaboration between Puerto Sotogrande and the Real Club Marítimo Sotogrande which was also presented by the managing director of the marina San Roqueño, Miguel Angel Diez.

Polo, golf, water sports, gastronomy, climate, pristine beaches, urbanizations and luxury resorts and hotels are the main attractions presented by the municipality.

The Mayor explained that the Tourist Guide is divided into different chapters. Each begins with the words "Where it resides", then refer to historical aspects of the municipality, monuments, beaches, the complex The Beach, the Port of Sotogrande, the extensive range of sports, environmental wealth and other strengths of the municipality, such as Easter, fairs, the rich cuisine or the exclusivity of Sotogrande.

The Children's Guide to San Roque is an illustrated booklet designed for children to enjoy to the full. It has two fold-outs and a sheet of stickers, and each of the sections offers different activities and questions related to the subjects described in each case, such as the history of San Roque, its natural spaces or its fiestas.

The website can be found at the address turismosanroque.es and is a great improvement on the previous portal, as the photographic archive has been renewed and each and every one of the municipality's tourist attractions is included.

During the day, the Councillor for Tourism has had the opportunity to greet various authorities who have known the offer of San Roque in Fitur, as the case of the Vice President and Minister of Tourism of the Board, Juan Marin. She was also responsible for representing San Roque in the official photo of the mayors of the region at Fitur.

Ana Ruiz, also responsible for Tourism in the Mancomunidad, participated in the work for the recognition of the region as a Smart Destination, an objective that was recently achieved following a diagnosis carried out in April last year. This is a certification granted by a commercial company dependent on the Secretary of State for Tourism, and work is currently underway to implement an action plan as a result of this diagnosis.

The 3 Ugolf golf courses are fully operational and in very good condition, the new year has started well with good numbers in Murcia, with plenty of last minute bookings which will probably continue throughout the year.

Caleia Mar Menor Resort is and will continue to be fully operational, with plenty of bookings for the future.

However the Hotel Hacienda del Alamo and the residential flats still remain closed for now, but the hotel group says they are hoping to open the flats during March and then the Hotel around Easter, but nothing 100%, so enquiries are being confirmed from April currently.