Hugo Camelo, who is only 19 years old, will make his DP World Tour debut tomorrow (Thursday) and aims to follow in the footsteps of some of the best Portuguese players of all time such as Ricardo Melo Gouveia and Pedro Figueiredo who qualified in Portugal. Masters as amateurs before becoming professionals.
The previous 15 Portugal Masters have featured 26 Portuguese players. Hugo Camelo will be the 27th in 16 years, demonstrating the renewal of values in national golf.
Of these 27, only Filipe Lima and António Sobrinho did not go through the traditional course of joining the club and then moving to the amateur national teams of the Portuguese Golf Federation (FPG) before finally turning professional.
Ricardo Santos, the record holder in the Portugal Masters, is about to play for the 13th time, but has always done it like a pro.
Rikado Melo Gouveia, who is competing this year for the 11th time in a row, qualified as an amateur in 2012 and then did so again as a professional seven more times. His 5th place in 2017 (shared with Filipe Lima) is the best Portuguese classification at the Dom Pedro Victoria golf course.
Pedro Figueiredo will take part in the €2 million tournament in Vilamoura this year for the 12th time, and he also qualified as an amateur in 2011 and 2012 while still studying and competing at UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles, USA). In 2014, already as a professional, Figgi became the best Portuguese, finishing 30th.
Apart from Ricardo Melo Gouveia and Pedro Figueiredo, only one Portuguese amateur qualified for the Portugal Masters in 2015, Tomás Santos Silva, repeating his feat as a professional in 2019.
This is Hugo Camelo’s challenge to live very positively. He is ranked number one in the national BPI (amateur) rankings and has received an invitation from the FPG to make his debut starting tomorrow in the first European Pro Division tournaments.
Last month, an amaranthine representing the Miramar Golf Club (in Vila Nova de Gaia) shone at the Portuguese Open. It was his debut in the Challenge Tour, the second European division, and he became the first Portuguese to complete a stage since the race was moved to the Royal Óbidos.
Hugo Camelo even had the luxury of being the top Portuguese in the first round, 3 under par, and hit the top 5 on 18 holes.
“From 0 to 10, I give 10 points to the importance of qualifying for the Challenge Tour, as I did at the International Amateur Championships in Portugal,” said Hugo Camelo at the time, who also considered himself to have made a “globally good result.” a tournament where I learned a lot as a player.”
Nelson Ribeiro, FPG national coach, has no doubts about the validity of the invitation given to his player: “Hugo has participated in all national level competitions, European Championships (individual and team), World Championships, Challenge Tour and has always spoken very positively about those who for the first time participated in these competitions.
When he played in the Portuguese Open a month ago, Hugo Camelo was still 100% committed to golf. At the same time, he has already entered the sports department of the University of Porto, a fact that may even help him relax before his first Portugal Masters tournaments.
Hugo Camelo starts tomorrow at 9:30 from the 10th hole, along with Englishman Richard McAvoy and Korean Tae Hee Lee. Exactly 20 years ago, McAvoy won the EuroPro Tour in the dunes of Oitavos in Cascais. After that, he added three more Challenge Tour titles and one more DP World Tour title. Li was a PGA Tour China player with four international titles.
The first Portuguese to leave will be Ricardo Melo Gouvea, at 8:00, from hole 10, with Italian Renato Paratore (two trophies from the DP World Tour) and Spaniard Sebastian García Rodriguez (three from the Alpine Tour).
Ricardo Santos follows him at 9:10, also from hole 10, with Italy’s Lorenzo Gagli (Challenge Tour title) and England’s Oliver Fischer (59 shots in the 2018 Portugal Masters second round, the tournament’s best round ever). DP World Tour title).
Thomas Melo Gouveia starts his fourth entry in the competition at 9:20 from hole 1; Thomas Bessa starts his third Portugal Masters at 9:20 on the 10th hole; Vitor López plays the Turismo de Portugal for the sixth time since 13:40 on hole 1; Pedro Figueiredo is scheduled for 15:50, also from hole 1; and Pedro Lenkart, the reigning two-time overall national champion, will compete in the Algarve for the second time starting at 13:50 at hole 10, entering the last group.
This year the tournament has been reduced to 120 players as it takes place at a time when natural light fades early.
