Closed Golf Courses in Zimbabwe takes Stephen Ferreira to South Africa

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Stephen Ferreira

Stephen Ferreira, Photo: Octávio Passos

Stephen Ferreira heads to South Africa to play golf

The Portuguese Professional Golfer nº 3 in the World Golf Ranking waits for the start of the Sunshine Golf Tour ( the highest level of competition for male professional golfers ) in March.

Stephen Ferreira chose to travel to South Africa to train and prepare in the best way the start of the 2021/2022 season of the Sunshine Golf Tour after Zimbabwe declared the closure of golf courses as one of the measures to combat the pandemic of COVID -19.

“The situation (of the pandemic) in Zimbabwe is not bad, but it is not good when it comes to golf, because the golf courses are closed again,” Stephen Ferreira told Tee Times Golf Agency exclusively for Record.

«I am thinking of going to South Africa to be able to train again on the golf courses and prepare myself well», added the third-best Portuguese Professional Golfer in the World Golf Ranking.

Stephen Ferreira is a member of the Sunshine Golf Tour, the first division of the South African Professional Circuit, and was supposed to start the 2021/2022 season in February, with three golf tournaments co-organized with the Challenge Golf Tour, the second European division.

However, the Challenge Golf Tour announced a week ago that these three events will have to be postponed to April due to the pandemic.

Following this Challenge Golf Tour decision, the Sunshine Golf Tour decided to delay the start of its competitive.

In the statement from the South African Professional Golf Circuit, it reads: “The Sunshine Golf Tour announced the postponement of its 2021 calendar by one month, due to the increase in cases of COVID-19 and as a way of supporting the request of Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa for that all South Africans work together to help fight the spread of the virus.

Sunshine Golf Tour Commissioner Thomas Abt said the circuit will begin with a new tournament, the Kit Kat Group Pro-Am, from March 5-7. The called “South African Swing” of the Challenge Golf Tour will start on the 22nd of April, extending for three weeks of joint competition.

In between, there will be four more Sunshine Golf Tour events: The Players Championship that starts on March 11th, the Gauteng Championship on March 18th, the Serengeti Invitational on March 25th and Zanaco Masters on April 15th.

This means that Sunshine Golf Tour players will appear on the “South African Swing” much more competitive than Challenge Golf Tour athletes and Stephen Ferreira will be able to take advantage of this to add precious points to the Challenge Golf Tour ranking, the race to Majorca.

This start of the season will be very important for Stephen Ferreira for two main reasons: first, because one of his dreams is to represent Portugal at the Tokyo Olympic Games and, for that, he needs to add many points in these tournaments that count for the world ranking and the Olympic ranking. Secondly, because he gets good rankings in the three tournaments co-organized with the Challenge Golf Tour, he may have more invitations to play frequently in the second European division.

In 2020 Stephen Ferreira played five golf tournaments on the European Golf Tour (the first European division) and his best performance was his 28th position (-7) at the Portuguese Open at Royal Óbidos Golf Course. He also entered four Challenge Golf Tour events and the highest point was the 27th position (-4) in the Limpopo Golf Championship (in South Africa). In these nine tournaments, he cut five of them.

Tee Times Golf Agency will follow all the golf tournaments, publicizing their results and wishes to Stephen Ferreira the best scores ever.

Source: Hugo Ribeiro / Tee Times Golf (teetimes.pt) for Record

Challenge Golf Tour postpones start of the golf season by two months

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Ricardo Melo Gouveia in Challenge Golf Tour

Ricardo Melo Gouveia, Photo: Octávio Passos

Challenge Golf Tour

Ricardo Melo Gouveia and Filipa Lima will have to choose between three golf tournaments in South Africa and the Portugal Golf Masters to be held at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf course, in Vilamoura.

The Challenge Golf Tour announced the postponement of the start of the season in about two months, directly affecting Portuguese players such as Ricardo Melo Gouveia and Filipe Lima, who are members of the second European division, and Stephen Ferreira, who is entitled to play some of the events on this circuit via Sunshine Golf Tour.

The European Challenge Golf Tour and the Sunshine Golf Tour jointly announced the confirmation of the postponement of the three co-organized tournaments in South Africa.

For the time being, no similar measure is planned for the European Golf Tour, which has everything set to start on January 21, with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. It is a tournament of the Rolex Series, that is, one of the strongest of the year in the first European division, and no Portuguese should have entry. Ricardo Santos is the best placed but is currently ten places out of the list of subscribers.

The European Golf Tour follows an extremely strict health and safety plan, with all players, coaches, caddies, journalists, circuit, hotel and golf courses staff to be tested before entering the “health bubble”.

The Sunshine Golf Tour and the Challenge Golf Tour are dependent on the pandemic worldwide evolution, being postponement according to this evolution.

The two circuits should return to their activity in February. The Dimension Data Pro-Am would open the season from February 11th to 14th, followed by the Cape Town Open from February 18th to 21st and the Limpopo Championship from February 25th to 28th.

With this change of calendar, the Challenge Golf Tour will only start from 22 to 25 April safely in South Africa. The Cape Town Open will follow from 29 April to 2 May, and the Dimension Data Pro-Am, from May 6th to 9th.

Professional Ricardo Melo Gouveia from the luxury Quinta do Lago area with its greats Quinta do Lago North, South and Laranjal Golf Courses, as well as San Lorenzo & Pinheiros Altos Golf courses and the magnificent overlooking the Atlantic ocean 5 stars Hotel Quinta do Lago, has his situation regularized with the British state as a foreign resident and Brexit will not affect him.

In competitive terms, things have not been easy for Ricardo Melo Gouveia. It was scheduled to start his season on January 17th, at the Palmares Open but the Portugal Pro Golf Tour decided to cancel its entire 2020/21 season.

When the circuit returns, Ricardo Melo Gouveia will have a difficult decision to make. This redefinition of the calendar puts the Cape Town Open right on top of the Portugal Golf Masters of the European Golf Tour.

However, Ricardo Melo Gouveia has a special relationship with Portugal Golf Masters held at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf course in Vilamoura. He has been the best Portuguese player in the most important national golf event for six years running, and in those six years, he has made two top-10 and two top-30.

Playing a tournament in South Africa, returning to Portugal, to return to the Sunshine Golf Tour in three straight weeks is an idea, but physically very exhausting.

An identical dilemma should present itself to Filipe Lima. Stephen Ferreira never received invitations to the Portugal Golf Masters, so he will surely play the three tournaments co-organized by the Challenge Golf Tour and the Sunshine Golf Tour.

Tee Times Golf Agency is attentive to all updates of all national and international tournaments and available to organize all the necessary services (golf packages with accommodation, green fees, transfers, rent-a-car, club rental and others) for players and companions, travelling alone or in groups.

Source: Hugo Ribeiro / Tee Times Golf (teetimes.pt) for Record

Leonor Bessa first woman winner of the PGA Portugal Tour

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Leonor Bessa first woman winner of the PGA Portugal Tour

Leonor Bessa, Photo: Carla Guerreiro / PGA Portugal

Leonor Bessa winner of the PGA Portugal Tour

December 1st, 2020, entered in the history of national golf as the first time that a woman won a mixed tournament on the PGA Portugal Tour, the Portuguese Professional Circuit.

The national champion defeated her boyfriend Tomás Melo Gouveia in the play-off at Amendoeira Golf Resort, in the center of the Algarve and a unique natural beauty with the award-winning Faldo Course, designed by Sir Nick Faldo and the challenging O’Connor Jnr course.

Leonor Bessa is the author of this accomplishment ended the calendar of high competition in Portugal in the 2020 season.

Leonor Bessa had already won both women’s tournaments, in July and September, and is, therefore, the current national professional champion and absolute national champion. This most recent triumph maintained her invincibility internally and had a special impact for the historical record.

The 22-year-old Portuguese totalled 67 strokes, 5 below the Par of O’Connor Jr. Golf Course at Amendoeira Golf Resort, thanks to an exceptional round, unique in her professional career, as she had never made 18 competitive holes without suffering bogeys and converted 5 birdies.

The title decision was played at hole 18, where Tomás had even made a birdie and Leonor had matched the Par-4. Therefore, none played particularly well and it was with 1 bogey that the national champion took over her third title of the year.

A “sudden death”, at least curious and unusual, because Leonor Bessa and Tomás Melo Gouveia started dating this year and often train together in Algarve golf courses, such as: Vilamoura Pinhal, Vilamoura Millennium, Vilamoura Laguna, Vilamoura Old Course, Vilamoura Victoria as well as in Vale do Lobo Royal & Ocean, San Lorenzo & Pinheiros Altos and Quinta do Lago North, South & Laranjal, a region where they both reside and full of wonderful accommodation offers for an unforgettable golf holiday, we highlight the 5 star Hotels, Tivoli Marina Vilamoura, Crowne Plaza as well as the 4 star Hotels, Vila Galé Ampalius, Vila Galé Marina, Dom Pedro Vilamoura & Dom Pedro Marina.

Besides boyfriends, Tomás was Leonor’s caddy in tournaments of the Spanish Santander Golf Tour at the Real Golf Pedreña and at Oliva Nova Golf (Valencia) and she was also a caddy of him in a European Tour tournament, so the normal thing is to pull each other and not directly rival each other.

Her international season was also positive, ending, for the first time, in the top 10 (7th) of the Santander Golf Tour ranking, the Spanish professional circuit.

But the great achievement of this PGA Portugal Open was to meet for the first time this year, in the same tournament counting only for internal rankings, Tomás Bessa (-4), the national champion of professionals, who competes in the Alps Tour Golf; Ricardo Melo Gouveia (-3), the absolute national champion, who fights on the Challenge Tour; and Pedro Lencart (Par), the national amateur champion. In 2020 this happened only in the Portuguese tournaments of the European Tour and in this event.

The top-10 of the PGA Portugal Open 2020, held at the O’Connor Jr. Golf Course at Amendoeira Golf Resort, was as follows:

1st Leonor Bessa, 67 strokes (5 under par), (play-off victory), tee off from the blue marks;

2nd Tomás Melo Gouveia, 67 (-5), white marks;

3rd Tomás Bessa, 68 (-4), white marks;

3rd Miguel Gaspar, 68 (-4), white marks;

5. Ricardo Melo Gouveia, 69 (-3), white marks;

5th Tomás Silva, 69 (-3), white marks;

7th Susana Ribeiro, 71 (-1), blue marks;

7th Vítor Lopes, 71 (-1), white marks;

7th Alexandre Abreu, 71 (-1), white marks;

7th Pedro Cruz Silva, 71 (-1), amateur, white marks;

Tee Times Golf Agency congratulates Leonor Bessa on her success and wishes her many more achievements in her bright future, as well as, to all our clients, unforgettable golf holidays in our country that we will be happy to organize.

Source: Hugo Ribeiro / Tee Times Golf (teetimes.pt) for Record