Hugo Makes It Three From Three at La Manga

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Three starts, three trophies, and a Tour card he very nearly didn’t get.

In January, Jean Hugo went to Legends Tour Qualifying School and came home without a card. On Sunday 8 November he won the Champions UK plc European Senior Masters on the South Course at La Manga Club in Murcia, his third victory from three starts on the Staysure Legends Tour. Some of you might know La Manga from your own Spain golf holidays, though probably not from the top of a leaderboard. Tour School may want to review its notes. (Legends Tour)

Jean Hugo holding the Champions UK plc European Senior Masters trophy at La Manga Club

Three Behind, Then Eight Birdies

Hugo started the final day three shots behind England’s Van Phillips and wasted no time. Birdies at the second, third, fourth and sixth drew him level on 15 under, and he kept going: one more at the ninth, two at the 14th and 15th, and an eighth at the par-five 18th. That was a bogey-free 65 for a 19-under total and the clubhouse target. (Legends Tour)

Phillips came to the last needing an eagle to force a play-off. The putt slid by, he tapped in for a 69, and missed out by one. The 18th has form for this sort of thing: Arnold Palmer eagled it to win the 1975 Spanish Open on this course by a single shot. La Manga, it seems, saves its best scripts for the final hole. (Golf Property)

Three Starts, Three Trophies

Hugo is a 22-time winner on South Africa’s Sunshine Tour, and he only turned 50 last December. His first win as a senior came at the Reignwood Legends Championship in Beijing in early October, and that earned him the status Tour School had denied him. On 1 November he closed with a 62 at Pinheirinho to take the inaugural Portugal Legends Championship, the Comporta event we previewed in October. A week later came La Manga. (The Scotsman)

He called the China win “a bit of validation after missing out at Tour School”. Two more trophies have rather settled the matter. And in the week the DP World Tour’s own hopefuls are sweating through Final Stage at INFINITUM, he offers some cheer: a bad week at Q-School is not always the end of the story.

A Leaderboard Full of Familiar Names

India’s Jeev Milkha Singh, the 2012 Scottish Open champion, finished third on 17 under. Chile’s Felipe Aguilar led at the turn, dropped shots at the 10th, 11th and 12th, then eagled the last to salvage fourth. Golf giveth, and golf taketh away, usually in that order. (Legends Tour)

Paul Lawrie, the 1999 Open champion and La Manga winner in 2022, shared seventh on 13 under with Stephen Gallacher. Gallacher still leads the Road to Cambodia Order of Merit, but Hugo has climbed to fifth, with three Asian events left, starting in Vietnam on 20 November. (Legends Tour)

Playing the South Course Yourself

The South is La Manga’s flagship: a par 73 laid out by Robert Dean Putman in 1971, later reworked by Arnold Palmer, and 6,499 metres from the back tees. It hosted the Spanish Open every year from 1973 to 1977, and its palm-lined fairways and lakes still ask plenty of a mid-handicapper. (Top 100 Golf Courses; GolfPass)

Aerial shot of La Manga South Course

The North and West courses complete the set, and the resort’s hotel, now the Grand Hyatt La Manga Club Golf & Spa, means nobody has to drive anywhere. Head down to Cabo de Palos for caldero, the Mar Menor’s rice-and-fish speciality, and finish with an asiático in Cartagena. Nobody will expect a 65.

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Browse our Costa Blanca golf holidays and take on the South Course at your own pace.

Tee Times: Europe's best Tour Operator 2026

Europe’s Best Again: Tee Times Collects Two World Golf Awards in Egypt

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Two trophies, our focus title kept, and a heavier bag for the flight home.

The World Golf Awards went to Africa for the first time this year, and Tee Times went with them. At Madinaty Golf Club, on the eastern edge of New Cairo, on the evening of 7 November 2026, Tee Times Golf Holidays was named Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator for the second year running, and Portugal’s Best Outbound Golf Tour Operator for good measure. The hand luggage was heavier on the way home. (World Golf Awards)

Two Trophies and a Title Defended

Director Carlos Ferreira went up to collect both awards in front of a room full of hoteliers, course owners, tourism boards and fellow operators from every corner of the golfing world. Tee Times went to Egypt with four nominations, including a first-ever tilt at World’s Best Golf Tour Operator.

The winners are decided by votes from golf industry professionals, the media and the travelling public, which is why this one means so much to the team. It extends a run that began in Vilamoura in 1993 and has so far brought Portugal’s Best Inbound Golf Tour Operator in 2020 and 2021, Portugal’s Best Outbound Golf Tour Operator in 2022 and Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator 2025. To everyone who voted a very heartfelt: Thank You. (Golf Business News; World Golf Awards)

Tee Times director Carlos Ferreira receiving a World Golf Awards 2026 trophy on stage at Madinaty Golf Club, Egypt
Carlos Ferreira on stage at the World Golf Awards Gala Ceremony, Madinaty Golf Club.
Golf Before Gala

The weekend began with arrivals on Thursday 5 November at The St. Regis New Capital, the official hotel, followed on Friday by the networking golf day on Madinaty’s Championship Course. Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed it, Troon manages it, and in 2022 it hosted the Asian Tour’s first visit to Egypt. A ten o’clock shotgun start sent the whole field out at once, which is rather the point. (World Golf Awards)

Networking golf is a curious discipline. Business is discussed between shots, cards are swapped on the tee, and nobody admits to their real handicap. Carlos made good use of the day, sharing fairways with the people who run the courses and hotels our clients play and stay at. That evening the welcome reception and barbecue back at The St. Regis carried the conversation on, smart casual and in no hurry.

Carlos Ferreira of Tee Times talking with two guests during the World Golf Awards networking golf day at Madinaty Golf Club
Talking shop at the networking golf day.

Saturday morning brought the World Golf Awards Classic, again on the Championship Course, before coaches carried guests back to Madinaty in the evening for cocktails at seven and the gala dinner and ceremony at eight. The dress code asked for suits, jackets and cocktail dresses. Shorts, as predicted, did not make the cut. (World Golf Awards)

Chris Frost, Managing Director of World Golf Awards, called the first African edition “a landmark moment for us”. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Robert Trent Jones Jr., whose designs span more than 300 courses in over 50 countries, including the one the guests had been playing all weekend. There are worse ways to honour an architect than handing him a trophy on his own course. (Golf Business News; Breaking Travel News)

Group photograph of the World Golf Awards 2026 winners at the Gala Ceremony, Madinaty Golf Club, Egypt
The class of 2026.
A Big Night for Portugal

Portugal was named World’s Best Golf Destination again, and Portuguese names kept appearing on the big screen all evening. The Silver Coast took World’s Best Emerging Golf Destination, Terras da Comporta won World’s Best Eco-Friendly Golf Facility and Quinta do Lago was named World’s Best Golf Academy Venue. Madeira claimed two world titles of its own: Santo da Serra for the best par 3 hole and Palheiro for the best panoramic clubhouse. (World Golf Awards)

At European level, the Old Course Vilamoura was named Europe’s Best Golf Course, which pleases us more than most, since it sits on our doorstep. Palmares won Europe’s Best Golf Clubhouse, PGA Aroeira the eco-friendly title and Quinta do Lago Europe’s Best Golf Venue. At home, Monte Rei was named Portugal’s Best Golf Course and Praia D’El Rey Marriott Golf & Beach Resort Portugal’s Best Golf Hotel.

Play the Winners

Trophies look fine on a shelf, but they look better as a fixture list. An Algarve golf holiday can take in the Old Course, Quinta do Lago and Monte Rei in a single week, while the Silver Coast pairs Praia D’El Rey with Royal Óbidos and West Cliffs, about an hour north of Lisbon. On Madeira, Santo da Serra and Palheiro come with Funchal’s restaurants in between.

Our team has been booking these courses for more than three decades and knows which tee time suits which flight, which hotel suits which group, and where to eat on the night off. Tell us how you like to play, and we will put the winners together for you.

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Browse our Portugal golf holidays and let Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator — two years running — take care of the details.

Q school final stage infinitum 2026

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Six rounds, 156 players, fifteen tickets.

Golf has plenty of grand occasions, but few as brutal as the Final Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School, which got under way this morning at INFINITUM, a Costa Dorada resort better known to most of us as a stop on our Spain golf holidays than as a place where careers are decided. Over six days and 108 holes, 156 players will chase a place on the 2027 DP World Tour, and most of them will go home without one. Think of it as the monthly medal with a mortgage riding on it. (Golf Magic)

Dawn on the Lakes course at INFINITUM, Costa Dorada

How the Week Works

The field plays two rounds on each of the Lakes and Hills courses, then a cut after 72 holes trims it to the low 60 and ties. Whoever survives plays the last 36 holes on the Lakes. (AmateurGolf.com)

The top 15 and ties earn DP World Tour membership and full HotelPlanner Tour status for 2027, while places 16 to 40 settle for a lesser HotelPlanner Tour category. Last year there were 20 cards on offer. The arithmetic has not improved. (AmateurGolf.com; DP World Tour)

Familiar Faces in the Queue

This is no field of hopeful unknowns. Thomas Pieters, a six-time DP World Tour winner and former Ryder Cup player, is back at Q-School for the first time since 2013 after leaving LIV Golf. He is also the only Rolex Series winner in the field. (Golf Magic)

Spain’s Pablo Larrazábal, a nine-time winner, lost his full playing rights last month and is chasing a 20th season on Tour. Germany’s Marcel Siem has 594 Tour appearances to his name, and England’s Ross Fisher is here too. Experience, it turns out, is no exemption. (Golf Magic)

Four Amateurs With a Decision to Make

Four amateurs have made it this far. Argentina’s Mateo Pulcini and America’s Dean Greyserman came through Second Stage at Fontanals, near Girona, while Nathan Wang (USA) and Segundo Oliva Pinto (Argentina) arrived via the Global Amateur Pathway. (AmateurGolf.com)

Any of them who finishes high enough will have to turn professional to take up the prize. As dilemmas go, it is a nice one to have. (AmateurGolf.com)

The Courses Doing the Sorting

INFINITUM, which golfers of a certain vintage will remember as Lumine, has 45 holes, all opened in 2008. Greg Norman’s Lakes course, a par 71 of 6,317 metres from the back tees, threads its way around the Sèquia Major wetlands and had a €1.5 million renovation in 2024. (DP World Tour; GolfPass)

Tee and water on the Lakes course at INFINITUM, Costa Dorada

The Hills course is halfway through a redesign by European Golf Design: the back nine is finished, and work on the front nine starts once the professionals have gone home. There is also the nine-hole Ruins course, laid out among Roman remains. Few practice grounds come with their own archaeology. (DP World Tour)

Hills course at INFINITUM with the sea in the backgroundFairway on the Ruins course at INFINITUM
Playing It Yourself

The resort sits about 11 kilometres from Reus airport and roughly 100 kilometres from Barcelona. Tarragona, a UNESCO World Heritage city with its own Roman amphitheatre, is only minutes away. (European Tour Destinations)

Stay at the Blaumar in Salou or the Gran Palas Hotel in Tarragona, take on the Lakes and the Hills, then finish with something in romesco, the sauce Tarragona proudly claims as its own. Nobody will be checking your scorecard for a tour card.

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Browse our Costa Dorada golf holidays and play the Lakes with nothing but pride at stake.