The Tournament That Discovered Sergio García Returns to Valencia This Week

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Before the Majors, They Play El Saler

Every July, the future of European golf assembles on the Mediterranean coast south of Valencia, and few people outside junior golf circles notice. This week is no exception. The European Young Masters 2026 begins today at Parador de El Saler, bringing together 120 of the continent’s best under-16 golfers from 33 countries, competing individually and in the Nations’ Cup team format. It is a small event by spectator standards. It is not a small event by any other measure.

A Roll Call Worth Knowing

120 of the continent's best under-16 golfers from 33 countries
The names attached to this tournament’s history explain why it matters. The first European Young Masters was held in 1995, and its inaugural boys’ champion was Sergio García. Since then the boys’ and girls’ titles have passed through the hands of Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, Carlota Ciganda, Suzann Pettersen, Georgia Hall, and Matt Fitzpatrick, among others. Whoever lifts the trophy this weekend joins that list. Nobody watching will know yet whether they belong on it. (Polski Związek Golfa)

The Course Doing the Testing

El Saler is not a gentle proving ground. Built in 1968 by Javier Arana, widely regarded as the defining architect of Spanish golf, the course sits inside the El Saler Natural Park on the Mediterranean shore, its front nine running through beach-links terrain reminiscent of Scotland and its back nine turning inland through pine forest.

120 of the continent's best under-16 golfers from 33 countries

Bernhard Langer holds the course record. Professionals, amateurs, institutions, and the specialised press have long ranked El Saler among the finest course layouts anywhere. (European Golf Association) Golfers wanting to walk the same links can do so at El Saler Golf Course, with the on-site Parador de El Saler putting rooms a short walk from the first tee.

A Nations’ Cup With Real Stakes

Alongside individual medals, the tournament runs a Nations’ Cup: each country’s three best daily scores from its four representatives are combined, and the lowest total after three rounds of stroke play wins. Spain won that inaugural Nations’ Cup in 1995 and has claimed it more times than any other country since — a small but pointed detail for a tournament staged on home Valencian soil.

European Young Masters 2026

Junior tournaments rarely make headlines, and that is precisely why they reward attention. Somewhere in this week’s field at El Saler is very possibly a name that will be familiar within a decade. Golfers keen to test the same coastline for themselves can browse Costa Blanca golf holidays and see what drew Arana, Langer, and now Europe’s best juniors to this stretch of Mediterranean links.

Tom Lehman Completes a Field for the Ages at the Portugal Invitational

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Six Ryder Cup Captains, Five Hall of Famers, and One Week Until the Invitational Tees Off

Portugal Invitational - PGA banner

With just over a week to go, the Portugal Invitational field has found its final and most decorated piece. Tom Lehman – the 1996 Open Champion, a former World No. 1, and captain of the United States at the 2006 Ryder Cup – has confirmed for the tournament’s first edition at The Els Club Vilamoura, running from 31 July to 2 August. He joins a 78-player field already carrying five World Golf Hall of Fame members and six Ryder Cup captains. For a competition that did not exist twelve months ago, staged on a course a short drive from Vilamoura’s marina, this is no small thing for the Algarve.

Lehman Brings the Claret Jug to the Algarve

Lehman won his Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, a victory that also carried him to the top of the world rankings that summer. Across his career he collected five PGA TOUR titles, and in 2006 he led the United States as Ryder Cup captain. It is a résumé that would headline most senior tournaments outright. At the Portugal Invitational, it simply joins the queue.

Tom Lehman, 1996 Open Champion, confirmed for the Portugal Invitational

He arrives alongside a run of late confirmations: Darren Clarke, Steven Alker, K.J. Choi, Justin Leonard and Y.E. Yang have all signed on this week. They complete a field that already included Ernie Els, Pádraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Retief Goosen, Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson and Miguel Ángel Jiménez. Between a Claret Jug, a green jacket and a Wanamaker Trophy, there is barely a major left uncollected.

The Numbers Speak for Themselves

Seventy-eight players from seventeen countries make up the field, including five World Golf Hall of Fame members and six Ryder Cup captains. Eighteen players have appeared in a Ryder Cup themselves. Between them, they carry 224 PGA TOUR victories, 247 PGA TOUR Champions titles, 20 major championships and 44 PGA TOUR Champions majors. Tournament director Todd Rhinehart said the strength of the field reflects exactly what organisers hoped to build in the event’s debut year. Few would argue.

A Venue fitting the Tournament

The Els Club Vilamoura sits on the site of the old Victoria Golf Course, an Arnold Palmer design that hosted the DP World Tour’s Portugal Masters from 2007 to 2022 and produced winners including Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington. Ernie Els redesigned the layout himself, keeping one nine on its original routing and building the other from nothing. The result is the fifth Els Club anywhere in the world, and the first in Europe.

The Els Club Vilamoura, redesigned by Ernie Els, host of the 2026 Portugal Invitational

The tournament carries similar weight. This is the first PGA TOUR-sanctioned individual stroke play event ever played on Portuguese soil, and the first PGA TOUR Champions event staged anywhere in Europe, backed by a five-year partnership between PGA TOUR Champions, Arrow Global Group, Turismo de Portugal and Turismo do Algarve. It sits inside a three-week European swing, following the ISPS Handa Senior Open and preceding the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship. For a resort that has spent decades building its name on courses like Vilamoura Old Course, Laguna and Millennium, this is the kind of validation that does not arrive often.

More Than a Golf Week for Vilamoura

The Portugal Invitational lands in peak summer, when Vilamoura’s marina is already at its liveliest – boats moored three deep, restaurant terraces filling from early evening, the kind of atmosphere that makes late July here feel like a festival with a leaderboard attached. Visitors staying through tournament week will find themselves within a few minutes of Vilamoura’s other courses – the Old Course, Laguna, Millennium and Pinhal — with Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Lago not much further beyond.

Vilamoura marina in summer, host town for the Portugal Invitational

A Week Out, and Counting

The tournament will be broadcast live in the United States on Golf Channel, the exclusive home of PGA TOUR Champions, with international coverage reaching more than 170 countries through 25 broadcast partners. Full spectator and ticketing details are available at portugalinvitational.com for anyone planning to watch from the ropes.

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For anyone planning to do more than watch, the timing is worth noting. The tournament plays out at a course, in a town, that welcomes golfers on the same fairways once the crowds go home. Browse our Vilamoura golf holidays and build a trip around it.


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Ryan Fox Wins the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale

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The First New Zealander to Lift the Claret Jug Since Bob Charles in 1963.

Victorious Ryan Fox holds the Claret Jug aloft

Ryan Fox won the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on Sunday, birdieing four of his last six holes to finish at ten under par and edge Cameron Young by a single stroke. It is Fox’s first major title at thirty-nine, and it makes him only the third New Zealander in history to win the Claret Jug — the first since Bob Charles in 1963. Sam Burns, who had led since Friday, closed with a two-over 72 to finish third. Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood tied for fourth.

A Brutal Cut Set the Tone

Packed Stands at the 18th, where many watched their favourites miss the cut

Royal Birkdale’s firm fairways and pot bunkers made their intentions clear early. The cut line settled at one-over 141, and it caught two of the season’s form players. Matt Fitzpatrick, in contention for PGA TOUR Player of the Year, opened 72-72 and missed his first major cut since the 2024 PGA Championship. Wyndham Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, ballooned to seven-over after eight holes of his second round before a late eagle-birdie-birdie surge softened the damage — not enough to survive the weekend. Royal Birkdale does not care about reputation. It only cares about ball-striking.

Burns and Fox Rewrote the Record Books

Sam Burns set a course record to go into Sunday leading by 2

The weekend belonged to two players moving in opposite directions on the leaderboard. Sam Burns’s (pictured above) back-to-back 62-65 set a new record for the lowest 36-hole score in major championship history and put him two clear heading into Sunday. Ryan Fox matched that third-round 62 himself, closing the gap and setting up a final round that neither man’s card could have predicted. Lucas Herbert added his own piece of history along the way, matching a nine-hole scoring record during the tournament — a reminder of just how scoreable Birkdale played once the wind finally eased.

The Birdie That Won It

Sam Burns, joy of the winning putt

Fox’s final round was quiet until it wasn’t. Four birdies across his last six holes turned a share of the lead into a genuine chance, and on the 72nd hole he had a decision to make: play safe for a likely play-off, or go after the pin. He told his caddie they were going to “take it on.” An eleven-foot putt found the middle of the cup. Cameron Young, playing in the group ahead, closed with a bogey that left him a stroke short. Fox called the two shots into the final green “probably the two best of my life” — a fair claim, given what they were worth.

A Long Wait, Finally Over

Fox has spent the better part of a decade as one of the most respected ball-strikers on either the DP World Tour or the PGA TOUR without a major to his name, including a runner-up finish at the 2024 U.S. Open that left him agonisingly short. The Claret Jug carries a winner’s share reported at $3.2 million from a $17.5 million purse, but for a player who has built his career on consistency rather than headlines, the number matters less than the name now attached to the trophy. New Zealand golf has waited sixty-three years for a moment like this. Fox delivered it in front of a crowd that had adopted him as their own by Sunday afternoon.

Where the Season Goes From Here

Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood’s tie for fourth keeps both inside the conversation as the majors season winds down. Fleetwood, still chasing a maiden major of his own, will point to Birkdale as further evidence that the breakthrough is close rather than distant. Scheffler, already the game’s dominant figure, adds another top finish to a résumé that hardly needs one. Sam Burns leaves Birkdale with a share of record-book history even without the trophy, and a 54-hole lead he will want back sooner rather than later.

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For golfers inspired to test their own ball-striking against the same firm-and-fast conditions that decided this Open, the Algarve’s coastline offers a similar examination without the risk of a rain delay. Palmares, set along the cliffs above Meia Praia beach, plays as firm and demanding as anything Royal Birkdale served up this week.

Browse our Algarve golf holidays and see what the fairways have in store.


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