Inspirational

From Vila Nova de Gaia to the DP World Tour

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Daniel Rodrigues Shines at the Turkish Airlines Open

Daniel Rodrigues Shines at the Turkish Airlines Open

Sunday’s final round at the Turkish Airlines Open in Belek was not supposed to go like this for Daniel Rodrigues. He is 23 years old. He is playing his first full season on the DP World Tour. Six months ago, he was grinding through all three stages of Qualifying School — a six-round marathon at INFINITUM in Spain — just to earn his card. And yet there he was, standing on the 18th green at National Golf Club, finishing tied second on eight under par, two shots behind winner Mikael Lindberg.

Not bad for a debut season.

The boy from Gaia

Rodrigues is from Vila Nova de Gaia — the historic city that faces Porto across the Douro River — and his story is a good one. The former number one amateur in Portugal, he won the Portuguese Amateur title and was national Under-18 and Under-16 champion before crossing the Atlantic to study and play golf at Texas A&M University. He turned professional last summer. He made it through Q-School at the first attempt. And then, in just his second season of professional golf, he nearly won a DP World Tour event on a rain-soaked Sunday afternoon in Turkey.

Drama on moving day

The week was not without its drama. Rodrigues shared the lead heading into the final round, having carded a composed third-round 68 — birdying four of his first six holes — before a two-hour lightning stoppage threatened to break his rhythm. It did not. He and Lindberg went into Sunday tied at the top, the air still damp and the occasion very real.

Turkish Airlines Open at National Golf Club Belek Turkey

When Lindberg held firm

Lindberg, to his credit, was magnificent. The 33-year-old Swede closed with a 69 to take his maiden DP World Tour title, earning himself a debut major appearance at the PGA Championship at Aronimink later this month in the process. But Rodrigues — sharing second with Italy’s Guido Migliozzi — will have taken enormous confidence from the week. These are the results that define careers.

A Portuguese double act

It was, quietly, a fine weekend for Portuguese golf in general. Ricardo Melo Gouveia tied for seventh on six under — a steady, experienced performance from the man who has flown the flag for Portuguese golf on the DP World Tour almost single-handedly in recent years. Now, for the first time in a long time, he has company worth having.

Ricardo Melo Gouveia tied for seventh

Portugal, is producing leaderboard golfers again, which is only fitting for a country that also produces some of the finest golf courses in Europe.

Time to book your piece of Portugal

The Algarve, where Rodrigues cut his teeth as an amateur, remains one of the great destinations for any golfer who takes the game seriously. The courses are exceptional. The conditions are kind. And if watching a young man from Porto nearly win on the DP World Tour has stirred something in you — well, there is really only one thing to do about it.

Browse our Algarve golf holidays and start planning your own Portuguese story.

The Fitzpatrick Brothers Win the Zurich Classic

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— and Golf Has Its Feel-Good Story of the Year

Some victories are about the numbers. Birdies made, strokes gained, FedExCup points banked. And then there are victories that are about something else entirely.

The 2026 Zurich Classic of New Orleans was that something else.

Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick with trophy after winning the 2026 Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana

On Sunday at TPC Louisiana, Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick — Sheffield brothers, golfing siblings, and now PGA Tour champions — held their nerve through one of the most dramatic back nines of the season to win the Tour’s only team event by a single stroke. Their combined total of 31-under 257 set a new tournament record. The manner in which they got there will not be forgotten in a hurry.

A four-shot lead, and then a wobble

Matt Fitzpatrick arrived in New Orleans in the form of his life. His 2025–26 season had already featured a DP World Tour Championship title in November, a runner-up at The Players Championship, and a Valspar Championship victory in March. His win at the RBC Heritage the week prior — a playoff victory over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler — had taken his season earnings to nearly $8.3 million across four events.

He was, in short, the hottest player on the planet. And he brought his younger brother along for the ride.

Alex Fitzpatrick, a DP World Tour regular, had already broken through for his maiden professional victory at the Hero Indian Open in March. The pair entered Sunday’s alternate-shot finale with a four-shot lead, after a tournament-record 15-under 57 in Saturday’s best-ball round.

Then the back nine happened.

A double bogey at the par-4 12th. A bogey at 14. The four-shot cushion evaporated. The teams of Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer, and Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura, were watching from the clubhouse at 30-under. The Fitzpatricks needed something from somewhere.

When it mattered most

It came, as it so often has this season, from the older brother.

Matt’s approach on the par-5 18th found a greenside bunker. From 35 yards out, he splashed to inside a foot, leaving Alex with a tap-in birdie to seal the win.

“I couldn’t feel my hands. I couldn’t feel my legs. I couldn’t feel anything,” said Alex, crouching over the ball before rolling in the putt. “It’s a pretty life-changing thing.”

He wasn’t wrong. The victory earned Alex a two-year Tour exemption through 2028, along with entries into the next four Signature Events, the 2026 PGA Championship, and the 2027 Players Championship.

History made, records broken

The Fitzpatricks became the first brothers ever to win on the PGA Tour, with Matt also becoming the first Englishman to win three or more times in a single year on Tour. The win moved him to the top of the FedExCup standings — a remarkable position for a player who spent much of the last two seasons finding his feet.

“To win a team event on the PGA Tour with my brother — I don’t know if it gets better than that,” said Matt, the US Open champion of 2022. “That’s how special it feels.”

Their parents were there on the 18th green to see it. The full family portrait. The kind of moment golf was invented to produce.

What it means for the season ahead

The tour moves on to Miami this week, where the Cadillac Championship tees off at the iconic Blue Monster course at Trump National Doral — a $20 million Signature Event and the first return to that storied venue in a decade. Matt Fitzpatrick is in the field, naturally. Alex, fresh off a two-year Tour card, will be alongside him.

The Fitzpatrick era has well and truly arrived.

Retief Goosen Wins Mitsubishi Electric Classic

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— and Completes a 24-Year Double at TPC Sugarloaf

Some courses have a way of remembering you. TPC Sugarloaf, it seems, has a particularly long memory.

Retief Goosen won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic on Sunday in Duluth, Georgia — 24 years after he claimed the PGA Tour’s BellSouth Classic on the very same course. A tidy bit of symmetry for a man who has always made the game look effortlessly unhurried.

Retief Goosen holds the trophy after winning the 2026 Mitsubishi Electric Classic at TPC Sugarloaf

The 57-year-old South African closed with a 14-point final round under the Modified Stableford scoring system, finishing on 39 points to beat Stephen Ames by two. It was his fifth win in 150 starts on the Champions Tour.

The Modified Stableford format rewards aggression — birdies earn two points, eagles five, while bogeys cost you one and doubles three. It is golf with the handbrake off. Goosen entered the final round three points behind 36-hole leader Zach Johnson, then made five birdies in a six-hole stretch between the 2nd and 7th to surge clear. A bogey-free back nine and a birdie at the last sealed it with quiet authority. “The putter this week got me going,” Goosen said, “and that’s how you win tournaments.”

Hard to argue with a man who has been saying that sort of thing since his first US Open in 2001.

But the moment that will linger longest had nothing to do with the leaderboard. Goosen’s son Leo, 23, was there in person to watch it happen — the first time he had seen his father win since the 2004 US Open, when Leo was just one year old. “I think the biggest emotion is that I’ve won in front of my son,” Goosen said. Twenty-three years in the making. Worth the wait.
Zach Johnson finished third on 36 points, with Stewart Cink a shot further back in fourth.

At 57, Goosen is proof that timing, touch, and a hot putter remain ageless. A two-time US Open champion. A Champions Tour winner. And now, a man who has conquered the same course in two different decades.

Some courses, it turns out, remember the right people.