Excitement grows with five days to the first big showdown in world golf this season.
Forget an invitational event taking place early next month in the south-east corner of Georgia as all attention will first focus next week on 2015 Lisbon Challenge.
Sixteen members of the Crail Golfing Society, and golf’s seventh oldest club, will be heading to Portugal early Sunday morning ahead of the first match next Monday in the five-match series on the famed Estoril Golf Club course.
The Estoril GC course hosted the first ever Portuguese Open in 1953 and won by renowned Scottish golfer Eric Brown and a victory that secured Brown a place in the 1953 GB & I Ryder Cup team played that year at Wentworth.
The Estoril club then hosted the Portuguese Open right up to and including 1972 and for a last occasion in 1974, and with the great Max Faulkner winning the 1968 event and 13 years after he captured the 1951 Open Championship at Royal Portrush and still the only occasion golf’s oldest Major has been staged outside of Scotland and England.
Of course that will change in four years when The Open returns to Royal Portrush.
However of more interest is the already eagerly awaited outcome of matches next week in and around Estoril.
Leading Crail butcher Alan Reid accepted the challenge of steering his Reid Raiders team over the five days of competition so much so he reckons he can make Portugal pork chops of Peter Roger’s Roger’s Dodgers.
But then Peter’s no billy goat and with a source very, very close to the team believing he’s rounded-up enough queers, sorry I mean steers in his herd to stampede any threat.
However as an exclusive photograph leaked to the local Crail media reveals Alan is clearly no lamb chop and judging by that grip he seems intent on carving up his rivals and dining out on the victory steak pie.
Be sure to visit www.golfbytourmiss.com all throughout next week for all the blood and all the guts .. No, all the daily news and reports from Portugal.
Reid Raiders Captain Alan Reid ready to cut a swath through Roger’s Dodgers.
* Here’s a schedule of matches
Monday 16th March – Estoril GC
Tuesday 17th March – Belas GC
Wednesday 18th March – Penha Longa
Friday 20th March – Qitavos Dunes
Saturday 21st March – Quinta Da Marina
