Jean Hugo Hits 62 to Win Portugal Legends Championship

Posted on by

A pro-am title, a course record and a six-shot win. Jean Hugo did not so much visit Comporta as annex it.

When the Staysure Legends Tour arrived at Pinheirinho for the inaugural Portugal Legends Championship, the talk was all major champions and Ryder Cup captains — our preview was no exception. By Sunday 1 November the trophy belonged to a 50-year-old South African in his rookie season on the over-50s circuit. The form book has been quietly returned to the shelf.

Hugo with Portugal Legends trophy

Ten Under and Not a Bogey in Sight

Jean Hugo opened with 66 and 68 and went into Sunday one behind Paul Lawrie. He then made five straight birdies on the front nine, an eagle at the 11th and birdies at the 15th, 17th and 18th. The result was a bogey-free 62 — ten under par and a new course record, eclipsing the 65 Phillip Archer had posted only the day before.

That left him on 196, 20 under and six clear, for his second Legends Tour title in three starts after the Reignwood Legends Championship in Beijing in October. “I was just trying to get it over the water on the last, never mind making birdie, so the record is a bonus,” he said. Some bonus. (Golf Today)

A Carnoustie Reunion and a Cold Putter

Hugo made his professional debut at the 1999 Open at Carnoustie — the one Paul Lawrie won. Twenty-seven years on, the two were paired together on Sunday, with Lawrie defending a one-shot lead. The Scot’s putter declined to take part, and a level-par 72 dropped him into a tie for fifth on 11 under. England’s Greg Owen closed with 65 to finish second on 14 under, with Sweden’s Johan Edfors third and Andrew Marshall fourth. (Golf News)

The week’s strangest statistic belonged to Scott Drummond, who made nine birdies in a row on day one to equal the world record on the professional tours. He followed it with two 74s and finished tied 32nd, which is golf in a sentence. Stephen Gallacher, named in our preview, finished tied 13th but still leads the Order of Merit. Nuno Campino, the only Portuguese professional in the field, finished 54th. (RTP)

Where the Amateurs Came In

Hugo’s week actually began on Thursday 29 October, when his team won the pro-am at 37 under alongside amateurs Manuel Quinta, Tiago Costa and Carlos Molinelli. Twenty-one teams took part, each led by a Legends Tour professional. Luís Figo and Ricardo Pereira, playing with Peter Baker and Rui Coelho, finished fifth at 32 under. Henrique Duarte had a hole-in-one at the 15th — his first, after 55 years of trying. He chose his moment well. (Record)

The amateur involvement didn’t stop on Thursday. Through the Legends Experience programme, amateurs played the tournament itself alongside the professionals, with a prize for the leading amateur. Bento Louro took it at three under and called it a chance to learn from the best. Thanks to Hugo, he also had a front-row seat for a course record. (Record)

A Week in Comporta

A Comporta Golf Course

Our preview has the full Comporta picture: the course’s history, the rice fields and the long lunches. For the rest of the week, there’s the Dunas Course and the Torre Course at Terras da Comporta, with Almalusa Comporta or Quinta da Comporta to come back to in the evening.

Browse our Lisbon golf courses and build your own Comporta week — no course record required.

Canopy by Hilton Vilamoura: Hilton’s Boutique Brand Drops Anchor at the Marina

Posted on by

New name, new look, same five courses next door.

Hilton has chosen Vilamoura, the long-standing heart of Algarve golf holidays, to launch Canopy by Hilton in Portugal, and the former Dom Pedro Marina is the hotel getting the makeover. Canopy by Hilton Vilamoura doesn’t open until September 2027, but rooms for stays from 15 September 2027 can already be booked. For once, golfers who plan ahead are rewarded for it.

Generated rendition of the upcoming Canopy Hotel in Vilamoura

From Dom Pedro to Canopy

The Dom Pedro Marina has long been a familiar base for golfers in Vilamoura. It’s a short stroll from the marina and 500 metres from Praia da Vilamoura. Its owners, Details Hospitality (part of Arrow Global), are now turning it into Canopy by Hilton Vilamoura: 155 rooms, a spa, an outdoor pool, a fitness centre and Canopy Central, the brand’s restaurant and bar. (Hospitality Net)

Generated rendition of Canopy Common areaGenerated rendition of Canopy standard room

Canopy aims for boutique rather than big-box: easy-going service, comfortable rooms and a strong local flavour. Think of it as Hilton without the conference lanyards.

genereated rendition of Canopy SuiteGenerated rendition of Canopy restaurant
Five Courses on the Doorstep

Details built the new hotel in partnership with Vilamoura Golf, which is a polite way of saying the golf is the point. Frank Pennink’s 1969 Old Course leads a line-up that also includes Pinhal, Laguna, Millennium and The Els Club Vilamoura. All five are a few minutes from the lobby.

Our golf package includes a free shuttle to the first tee, preferred tee times between 9:00 and 11:00 on selected dates, a free pull trolley and 10% off in the pro shop. There’s VIP treatment on arrival too, which after the Faro taxi queue will feel thoroughly earned.

After the Eighteenth

The marina’s waterfront restaurants are a five-minute walk away. That means grilled dourada, a cold carafe of vinho verde, and yachts you can pretend to be shopping for.

Vilamoura Casino is just round the corner, for anyone whose short game needs a different kind of gamble.

Vilamoura marina on a summer evening, Algarve, with waterfront restaurants and moored yachts

Why Book Now

Stays open from 15 September 2027. That’s the start of the Algarve’s autumn golf season, when the courses are in prime condition and daytime temperatures sit in the mid to high twenties. A launch discount is available on bookings confirmed by 31 March 2027.

There’s also something to be said for being among a new hotel’s first guests: fresh rooms, staff keen to impress, and bragging rights over the rest of the four-ball. Nobody will believe you only went for the golf.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Browse our Algarve golf holidays and reserve your room at Canopy by Hilton Vilamoura for autumn 2027.

Palmares Comes Out of Surgery: All Three Nines Return Renovated

Posted on by

Wider fairways, fewer bunkers, a fifth less watering. Palmares has had a busy summer.

Anyone who played Palmares this summer will mostly remember the earthworks. The Alvor and Praia loops closed in turn, and green fees stayed firmly in place for a course that was very obviously mid-operation. A few visitors said so in public reviews. The patient has now been discharged.

Why It Matters for the Algarve

The improvements made to Palmares Golf Course have not only enhanced the quality of the course itself but, more importantly, have also added significant value to the overall offering of Algarve golf courses, further strengthening the region’s reputation as a world-class golf destination.

What Has Changed

All three nines — Alvor, Lagos and Praia — have been reworked to improve conditioning, playing surfaces and landscaping. Every tee is being resurfaced with a grass better suited to the Algarve climate and every bunker rebuilt with new sand. A new short-game area and a larger putting green are going in too, along with an entirely new fleet of greenkeeping machinery. (Golf Business News)

Palmares, one of three revamped nine-hole loops

Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects oversaw the design work. Its president, Bruce Charlton, says the aim was to raise the “fun factor” for every level of golfer, chiefly by widening fairways and replacing sand with short grass around many of the greens. Some bunkers have also been moved and reshaped to follow Trent Jones Jr’s original strategy. This may sound like a kindness to the high handicapper. Anyone who has faced Palmares’s quick, heavily contoured greens from a tight lie will know better. (Golf Business News)

A Fifth Less Water

The quieter part of the project may matter most. The greenkeepers will now concentrate irrigation on the main playing surfaces, with the aim of cutting the area the resort waters by 20 per cent. It should lower running costs as well as water use. (Golf Today)

The Praia nine at Palmares

In a region where every summer brings fresh headlines about reservoir levels, that is a sensible line to draw. The fringes may look a little more Portuguese and a little less Augusta. Nobody came here for Augusta.

Three Nines, Three Characters

Palmares opened in 1975 as an eighteen-hole Frank Pennink design. In 2011 Robert Trent Jones Jr reworked the layout and added a third nine. All three loops start and finish beside the clubhouse on the hill, then descend through a 200-hectare amphitheatre towards Meia Praia and the Bay of Lagos. (Golf Course Architecture)

Drone view of Palmares from the sea

The Alvor is mostly parkland, and the Lagos mixes parkland with links. The Praia crosses the railway line to play links-style golf among the dunes, which makes it one of the few rounds in the Algarve where the railway timetable is part of the local knowledge.

Off the Course

The clubhouse, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning RCR Arquitectes, was named World’s Best Clubhouse at the 2025 World Golf Awards and is now home to Preceito, the resort’s new signature restaurant. Palmares has also joined the European Tour Destinations network, and Portugal’s first JW Marriott is due to open on site in 2028.

Until then, the adults-only Palmares Beach House Hotel, with twenty rooms looking over the course to the sea, is the obvious base. Lagos is ten minutes away, with Tivoli Lagos and Iberostar Selection Lagos Algarve for those who prefer an old town and a plate of grilled fish within walking distance.

Palmares Golf Resort with the sea in the background

Part of a Bigger Plan

Palmares is managed by Details, Portugal’s largest golf course operator, which looks after thirteen venues for Arrow Global. Its co-CEO, Nuno Sepúlveda, is unusually candid about the reason for the work: it was needed “to bring the golf course back up to the standards that a place like Palmares deserves.” “Back up” is not a phrase you often meet in a press release. After September’s reopening of the North Course at Monte Rei, he adds, “it made perfect sense for Palmares to be next.”

Gonzaga Liniers, who became general manager as the diggers arrived, expects Palmares to rank among the best golf destinations in Europe within two years, and says that “won’t just be down to the golf.” It is a bold timetable. The course, at least, is ready now. (Golf Business News)

____________________________________________________________________________________

Browse our Palmares golf course page and book a round on the new-look nines before word gets round, or make a week of it with our full list of Algarve golf courses.