Jordan Smith champion of the 16th Portugal Masters
Jordan Smith entered this Sunday in the 16-year history of the Portugal Masters, by stamping the best result ever of a best, with 30 under par, but also for the emotions they let flow after the last putt on the 18th hole of Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, in Vilamoura.
Asked by the DP World Tour television interviewer, even before handing over his scorecard, he burst into tears and couldn’t respond for a few minutes. He’s already seen the smiles of Andlivan, the garray and from the south, Lucas Bjerrega, but this was the Algarve’s €2 million ‘prize-money’ tournament.
“My wife’s family lost someone earlier this year, my wife’s sister. It has been difficult since then and at that moment I thought of my family afterwards, the 29-year-old Englishman told the tournament’s Press Gainete.
Jordan Smith totaled 254 strokes, 30 under par, after laps of 62, 67, 62 and 63 and committed the feat of always leading at the end of each lap (‘wire-to-wire’). In the first and third laps he equaled his best ever lap at the DP World Tour tournaments and pocketed €340,812.
The 2nd managed to find Gavin Green, 3 strokes away (64+65+64+64), and the Malaysian must still be wondering what it was like to add -27 and not win the tournament, contenting himself with the second prize of 220,525 .
“30 Under Par is one of the best results ever on the European Tour or the DP World Tour,” David Williams, the president of the European professional circuit, said in his speech during the awards ceremony.
The DP World Tour does not recognize this -30 as a record, because it was played with fairway placement during the four days. However, it is still the best brand ever of one and it has even more value the Portugal Masters is always played in these conditions, almost with ‘prefered lies’.
The previous result of a champion had been Steve Webster’s -25 English, right in the best edition of the race (2007), when the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, designed by Arnold Palmer, was a Par-72. Since moving to Par-71, the best has been added at -23 by Irish Pádraig Harrington in 2016, and Englishman Andy Sullivan in 2015.
two main factors and a result of this caliber Ricardo Santos, the best Portuguese, in 59th place, with 8 below par and theirs: «the field is easier this year and the level of the players is getting better».
But no matter how accessible a course is, it’s never easy to get 27 birdies and 3 eagles. There is also much credit to Jordan Smith, the eighth Englishman to win the Portugal Masters, for having had the courage to change his putter and putting handle three weeks ago. The consequence was this magical performance.
For him, it matters little whether or not he is sanctioned as recording. Taste is the same: «I never thought of making a result like this, but now, I hope it will last a long, long time, being in the history books».
It was Jordan Smith’s second DP World Tour title after the Porsche European Open in 2017. A five-year wait.
The triumph in Vilamoura earned him a rise from 14th to 9th place in the ‘DP World Tour Rankings in partnership with Rolex’. He has more than guaranteed qualification for the last two tournaments of the season, in South Africa and Dubai.
But it also rose to 5th place in the European Ryder Cup rankings. If the confrontation with the United States was now, he would be called up to the European team.
In the world ranking, it will return to the top-100 (it was already 69th).
Jordan Smith succeeds the Belgian Thomas Pieters in the list of champions of the Portugal Masters, who last year was remembered in Portugal at the European Amateur Championships.
The 16th Portugal Masters attracted a total of 33,322 spectators over five days (including the Pro-Am). An increase compared to the few more than 24 thousand in 2021, while in 2020 it was not even possible to have an audience due to the pandemic. If the two years of comparison are not compared since COVID19, the 33 million spectators are always exceeded.