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Double Glory at Vidago Palace — AQUAPOR Circuit Finds Its Round Three Champions

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Luciana Reis’ 142-stroke aggregate topped every single competitor, while João Miguel Pereira is making a habit of winning.

For a tournament hosting 73 golfers in the hills of northern Portugal, the 3rd AQUAPOR Circuit 2026 produced remarkably clear outcomes. At Vidago Palace on 16–17 May, Luciana Reis (Arquitectos) and João Miguel Pereira (Aroeira) claimed the titles in the Women’s and Men’s competitions respectively — and both had to earn them. (Federação Portuguesa de Golfe)

Aquapor 3rd Round Winners

Reis Sets the Standard for Everyone

Luciana Reis led after day one, returning a 70 (-2) featuring seven birdies, three bogeys, and a double bogey — a scoreboard that tells a story, not a fairytale. She closed with a composed 72 (par) on day two to finish at 142 (-2). Not just the best Women’s score. The best aggregate across all 73 competitors — fourteen women and 59 men. None of them scored lower. Francisca Rocha (Oporto Golf Club) took second in the Women’s category with 151 (+7), a margin that reflects just how controlled Reis was over two days. (FPG — Round 1 Report)

Pereira Holds Firm as the Field Slips

João Miguel Pereira entered day two level with Diogo Rocha (Oporto Golf Club), both having shot 71 (-1) on the opening round. Pereira’s second-round 74 (+2) wasn’t vintage form — but Rocha’s 79 (+7) made the arithmetic straightforward. Pereira won by a single stroke over João Maria Ivo de Carvalho (Estoril Golf Club), who closed with a tidy 71 to finish at 146 (+2). Rocha, so dangerous after day one, slipped to joint sixth. Golf, as ever, reserves the right to change the conversation overnight. (Federação Portuguesa de Golfe)

The Venue: Vidago Palace

Vidago Palace Golf Course

Vidago Palace is no ordinary backdrop for a national circuit event. Originally laid out by Scottish architect Mackenzie Ross in 1936 as a nine-hole course, it was reimagined by Cameron & Powell and reopened as a full par-72 championship layout in 2010. Set in the Oura Valley in northern Portugal — roughly an hour south of Chaves, near the Spanish border — the course winds through a centenary park before opening out into dramatic hillside terrain. The 17th, a par five played from the highest to the lowest point on the course, is the signature hole and one of the more theatrical finishes in Portuguese golf. The clubhouse was designed by architect Álvaro Siza Vieira. (Vidago Palace)

A Season Taking Shape

Three events into the 2026 AQUAPOR Circuit, and Pereira already has two wins — a fact the rest of the field will be tracking with increasing attention. The circuit opened in January at Morgado do Reguengo, where Amélia Gabin (ADCQL) and José Miguel Franco de Sousa (Estoril Golf Club) took the honours. March brought Quinta do Perú and a first circuit win for Pereira alongside Francisca Salgado (Vale de Janelas). Vidago makes it a double for the Aroeira golfer in 2026. Five champions across three events; five different stories.

What’s Next on the Circuit

The AQUAPOR Circuit resumes at Palmares on 18–19 July — a course that trades northern mountain drama for Algarve coastline, with the beach at Meia Praia stretching out below its fairways. Estela follows in October, and the season concludes at Belas Clube de Campo in November.

If the circuit’s next stop has you thinking about a Portugal golf trip of your own, explore the Algarve’s finest courses — including Palmares — with Tee Times.

From Campus to Fairway: Portugal’s Universities Make Their Golf Debut

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Golf in Portugal has always had one eye on the future. From junior development circuits to the national training centre at Jamor, the FPG has spent years building the infrastructure of a sport with serious long-term ambition. The first University Team Golf Tournament, held at Jamor in 2026, is the latest piece of that puzzle — and arguably one of the most significant.

A New Competition on Home Ground

The Centro Nacional de Formação de Golfe do Jamor is state property, integrated within the national sports complex and managed by the FPG under a 25-year agreement. Its nine-hole course, inaugurated in 2013, has since been recognised with GEO Certified® status for its sustainability credentials. Located 20 minutes from central Lisbon, it made a fitting home for a tournament with growth at its heart.

Jamor 9 Hole Golf Course

The FPG organised the event with a stated goal: to bring golf closer to the university community. The mixed-team format — students from across Portugal’s higher education institutions competing together — added a dimension that pure strokeplay rarely achieves. It was competitive and sociable, which, when you’re trying to grow a sport inside a campus culture, is more or less the point.

Universidade de Lisboa Take the Title

The inaugural title went to Universidade de Lisboa. Their team — captained by Eduardo Bianchi and comprising Inês Simão Gonçalves, Mafalda Soares, Clement Guertener, Enzo Blanc, Tomás Massena, William Bao, Francisco Jorge, and Dinis Isidro — played with enough composure to claim a clear victory on the day. IP + Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa finished second, with Universidade Católica Portuguesa in third. (Federação Portuguesa de Golfe)

Competitors First University Tournament Portugal

Nine teams, one course, and a first edition that delivered on both atmosphere and competition. The FPG’s instinct to stage it as a team event — rather than an individual ranking exercise — was well-judged. Universities rally around collective identity. Golf in Portugal now has a platform to benefit from that.

Portugal in the Wider Picture

This tournament doesn’t exist in isolation. Portugal already features as a qualifying venue in the R&A Student Tour Series — an international circuit designed to provide elite student golfers outside the USA and Mexico with high-performance competition. The Series was launched in 2019, and the R&A invests close to £500,000 annually in student and university golf through its Foundation Scholars programme. (The R&A)

What the FPG has done here is to complement that elite pathway with something broader — a domestic platform for students who love the game, regardless of whether they’re chasing amateur titles. The Portugal golf courses that host the international circuit are a different world from Jamor’s nine holes. But the pipeline runs in one direction.

Portugal’s golf ecosystem has momentum on multiple fronts. The Algarve remains one of Europe’s most established golf holiday destinations, the FPG’s youth development circuits have been expanding their reach, and the Portugal golf competitions calendar grows more varied each year. The first University Team Golf Tournament isn’t just a feel-good footnote to all of that. It’s evidence that the federation is thinking carefully about where the next generation of Portuguese golfers comes from — and making sure there’s a competition waiting for them when they arrive.

Aaron Rai Wins the PGA Championship — England’s First in 107 Years

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A 31-year-old from Wolverhampton. Two gloves. Iron covers on every club. And one of the great final-round performances in recent major history.

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PGA Championship Aaron Rai Trophy
Aaron Rai shot a closing 65 to finish at nine under par, becoming the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919. He won by three shots. That is a gap of 107 years between English winners of the Wanamaker Trophy. Golf, as ever, takes its time.

The Course That Kept Everyone Honest

Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania returned to major championship golf for the first time since 1962. The talk before the week was of low scoring. Jon Rahm said players had been predicting 20 under — and that the number had made him question his ability to read a course. The course read back. The leaderboard stayed congested through three rounds, with no one able to pull clear. (PGA Tour)

PGA Championship Aronimink

Two Gloves and a Set of Iron Covers

Rai is recognisable on tour for two things: the two gloves he wears on both hands — a habit formed playing through English winters as a boy — and the iron covers still on every iron, a nod to his father, who sacrificed to buy him decent equipment. He has kept the covers on ever since, to remember where he came from. Rahm, watching from the leaderboard, was unequivocal: “What he did today is nothing short of special.” (Golf Channel)

The Putts That Won It

Rai began Sunday three shots off the lead. Approaching the turn, he holed a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-five ninth, then one-putted seven consecutive greens. On 17, with a three-shot cushion and the field pressing, he drained a 70-footer for birdie — not to chase the lead, but to seal it. He parred 18 without drama. (Yahoo Sports)

PGA Championship Aaron Rai Final Putt

Where Does This Leave Him?

This was Rai’s 13th major start and only his second PGA Tour victory, following the 2024 Wyndham Championship. He started the week at 150-1. The only previous Englishman to lift the Wanamaker Trophy was Jim Barnes, who won the first two editions in 1916 and 1919. Rai is now just the second. For a nation that has produced Faldo, Rose, Westwood and Poulter — and watched them all come close — it lands with some weight. (Golf Monthly)

Rory, Rahm, and the Rest

Rory McIlroy, hunting a seventh major, could never find the gear. Jon Rahm finished tied second at six under — his best major result since joining LIV Golf at the end of 2023. Overnight leader Alex Smalley shared that position, having surrendered the lead with a double bogey on the sixth hole of the final round. It is, as these things often are, a story of someone else’s misfortune meeting someone else’s moment.

Aaron Rai picked the right moment. England waited 107 years for it.

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