Terras da Comporta

The Legends Head for the Dunes: Comporta Hosts Its First Senior Tour Event

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Major champions, a Ryder Cup captain and free admission. Comporta has rather outdone itself.

For a stretch of coast long described as Portugal’s best-kept secret, Comporta is making an increasingly poor job of keeping it. From 30 October to 1 November 2026, Pinheirinho Golf Course hosts the inaugural Portugal Legends Championship, the newest stop on the Staysure Legends Tour. Entry for spectators is free. In golf, that is practically unheard of.

Who’s Teeing It Up

The field is expected to include Michael Campbell, who held off Tiger Woods to win the 2005 US Open at Pinehurst, and Paul McGinley, Europe’s winning Ryder Cup captain at Gleneagles in 2014. Two of McGinley’s team from that week, Jamie Donaldson and Stephen Gallacher, are also slated to play. Donaldson hit the wedge to the 15th green that won the Cup, and there is a plaque on the fairway to prove it. (Golf Business News)

A fairway at Pinheirinho Golf Course in Comporta running between umbrella pines and sandy dunes

A Course Brought Back From the Brink

Pinheirinho has had a more eventful life than most golf courses. Designed by Jorge Santana da Silva as part of an ambitious tourism and property project, it closed not long after it was first unveiled. A change of ownership brought eighteen of the original twenty-seven holes back into play, and the course reopened in 2022.

The second act has been kinder. The layout threads through secondary dunes and pine forest, with heavily sculpted bunkering and a 3.5-hectare lake for those who like their jeopardy wet. The clubhouse is by Jacobsen Arquitetura, and Six Senses Comporta, the brand’s first resort in Portugal, sits on the same estate with access to 60 kilometres of Alentejo coastline.

Two More Reasons to Stay the Week

Three days of watching legends is a fine start, but nobody flies to Lisbon to keep their clubs in the bag. Down the road at Terras da Comporta, David McLay-Kidd’s Dunas Course has long been the headline act, and it now shares the bill with the Torre Course, the first signature design by Sergio García. Torre opened in the summer of 2025, plays to par 72 over 6,790 yards, and was named the world’s best new golf course at the 2025 World Golf Awards. (Golf Monthly) (Rus Tourism News)

That makes three serious courses within a short drive of one another, all about an hour south of Lisbon. Dunas is the bold links-style test, Torre the more strategic thinker’s round, and Pinheirinho the woodland interlude between them. A week here does not repeat itself.

The second hole of the Torre Course at Terras da Comporta, with sandy waste areas and pine trees

Rice Fields and Long Lunches

Comporta is rice country, and the paddies that line the road in from the north are not decoration. Order the arroz de marisco at lunch and you are eating the local crop. The village itself remains resolutely low-rise, all thatched roofs and barefoot beach restaurants, which is precisely why people who could go anywhere keep coming here.

How to Watch

The Portugal Legends Championship runs over three rounds, from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November 2026. Tickets are free; spectators simply register their interest on the tournament page. The autumn timing suits the Alentejo nicely, with the summer crowds long gone and the light rather better for it. (Legends Tour)

Browse our Lisbon golf holidays and build a Comporta week around the Legends, or come later and play the courses in peace.

Portugal’s Golf Course Rankings Shake Up

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The “King” has been toppled after 15 years. A new course is at the top.

Top100GolfCourses.com has published its 2026 update to Portugal’s Top 50, and it is being called the most volatile edition in the list’s history, with only four courses holding on to their previous position. That is a lot of movement for a country with around eighty-six eighteen-hole courses spread across five regions.

For anyone planning a golf trip to Portugal this year, it is also useful reading: a top spot is not permanent, and neither is a top-ten place secure. At the summit, a course that only opened in 2023 has done something no course outside the Algarve has managed since 2008: taken the national number one spot. (Top100GolfCourses.com)

A New Name at the Top

Fairway through dune land at Dunas Terras da Comporta golf course near Lisbon

Dunas Terras da Comporta, an hour south of Lisbon on the edge of the Sado Estuary, now sits at number one in Portugal. Designed by David McLay Kidd through natural dune land, it has collected a run of international honours since opening in 2023, and this latest placing confirms it as more than a passing trend. It is the first time since 2008 that a course from the Lisbon & Central region has led the national ranking. Five minutes away, the Torre course, designed by Sergio García, gives the estate a second layout worth building a trip around. Play Dunas Terras da Comporta and the case for both makes itself.

Monte Rei Steps Aside

Monte Rei North golf course in the Eastern Algarve

For fifteen years, Monte Rei North held the number one position in Portugal without serious challenge. That run ends this year. The Jack Nicklaus Signature design near Tavira in the eastern Algarve now sits at number two, still firmly inside the country’s elite, still one of the more complete tests of golf on the Iberian Peninsula. Set among cork oak and pine, the course rewards accuracy over power, and its practice facilities are as complete as its ranking suggests. Fifteen years at the top is not a run many courses anywhere in the world can claim, and second place on a list this competitive is no demotion. It is simply Portuguese golf catching up with itself.

Quinta do Lago South Returns to the Podium

Monte Rei North golf course in the Eastern Algarve

Quinta do Lago South climbed three places to number three, reclaiming a podium finish and reasserting its position as the Algarve’s leading traditional resort course. Set within the Ria Formosa Natural Park, it pairs golf with one of the region’s more distinctive landscapes, saltwater marshland giving way to fairways rather than the other way around. The course has long been the benchmark against which newer Algarve designs are measured, and this year’s ranking makes that case with numbers rather than reputation alone.

Rankings shift from year to year, this year more than most, with six courses entering the Top 25 for the first time. What doesn’t shift is why golfers keep returning to Portugal: more than three hundred days of sunshine in the Algarve, a growing case for Lisbon & Central, and courses across both regions built for a repeat visit, not a single tick on a list. Browse our Algarve golf holidays and see the courses behind the numbers.


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Sergio García Visits Terras da Comporta to Oversee Final Stages of The Torre Course

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Sergio García made a special trip to Portugal to monitor the progress of his latest golf course design project, The Torre Course.Earlier this month, Ryder Cup legend and 2017 Masters champion Sergio García made a special trip to Portugal to monitor the progress of his latest golf course design project, The Torre Course, at Terras da Comporta, Located 130 km from Lisbon. The eagerly awaited course is set to open next summer, completing a stunning 36-hole venue alongside the acclaimed Dunas Course, designed by David McLay-Kidd. García’s visit allowed him to assess the development first-hand, offering insight into the intricate process of shaping this par-72 course, which measures 6,575 meters from the back tees.

García expressed his excitement about the progress, stating, “It was incredibly exciting to see the progress that has been made since my last visit. Of course, we spent a lot of time visualising each hole, but nothing compares to seeing it in the flesh. The course is really starting to take shape, and the whole team is itching to get out there and play it.”

Inspired by the legendary Real Club Valderrama, García’s favourite course, The Torre Course, will challenge golfers with its unique blend of wide fairways, small greens, and well-placed sandy waste bunkers. The course will perfectly complement the existing Dunas Course, which has already garnered global recognition.

The Torre Course’s soon unveiling

As the Terras da Comporta team prepares for The Torre Course’s unveiling, anticipation is building for players and golf fans looking to visit this premier destination. Rodrigo Ulrich, Director of Golf at Terras da Comporta, highlighted the excitement, sharing, “We look forward to welcoming media and tour operators to preview the course next spring and, of course, opening for general play next summer.”

At Tee Times Golf Agency, we are equally excited to include The Torre Course in our range of exclusive golf packages. A few months ago, we published an article about its progress and upcoming opening. With over 30 years of experience offering the best Portugal golf holidays, we are proud to partner with Terras da Comporta to provide tailored golf experiences at this exceptional destination.

Photo by: Azalea Public Relations.