The Road to Mallorca returns to Portugal this week for the fourth edition of the Open de Portugal at Royal Obidos. Here’s three players in the field to look out for this week…
Form horse
Andrea Pavan arrives in Portugal in red hot form. The Italian has finished inside the top 15 in each of his last four starts which began with a tied fifth at the British Challenge presented by Modest! Golf Management, before tied 13th and 15th place finishes at back-to-back events in Sweden. Last week at the Challenge de España he narrowly missed out on a second win of the season by virtue of a playoff. Currently placed sixth in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, the five-time Challenge Tour winner is close to securing promotion back to the DP World Tour.
Local boy
With five events to go of the 2023 Challenge Tour season, Ricardo Gouveia could go a long way to securing a return to the DP World Tour with a strong outing on home soil. The Portuguese currently sits 21st in the Rankings. With the top 20 earning promotion in November, and with one win already under his belt this year which came at the Abu Dhabi Challenge back in April, he’ll be hoping to replicate that feat in familiar surroundings. A tied eighth place finish last week means he returns to Portugal in good form too.
The outsider
Marco Penge is finding form at just the right time with the Englishman looking to force his way into the top 45 in the Road to Mallorca Rankings to book his place at the season-ending Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final supported by the R&A. He currently lies 61st but is trending in the right direction having made the cut in each of his last four outings. The 25-year-old finished in a share of sixth at the Dormy Open last month to register his second top ten finish of the season before finishing tied 18th a week later at the Indoor Golf Group Challenge.
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