George Coetzee. Pic: Getty Images
Sept 16: George Coetzee is aiming to extend his winning streak to three weeks and go back-to-back in Portugal when he tees it up at the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos.
There is no Indian in the field this week.
The South African was pleased with every part of his game as he won his fifth European Tour title at the Portugal Masters on Sunday, following on from his 11th Sunshine Tour victory at his home course in Pretoria the previous week.
The Open de Portugal is being played on the Seve Ballesteros designed layout at Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort for the first time and while Coetzee is making his debut in the event, the venue is far more familiar to local star Ricardo Gouveia.
Despite the lack of home fans to spur him on as the event goes ahead behind closed doors in accordance with the European Tour’s stringent Health Strategy, the three-time European Challenge Tour winner is confident that he will not lack motivation to shine on home turf.
The Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos returns to the Race to Dubai schedule for the first time since 2017 as a dual ranking event with the European Challenge Tour, and Julian Suri is hoping to go one better than he did three years ago at Morgado Golf Resort.
The American finished second to Matt Wallace on that occasion, as the Englishman claimed his first European Tour victory. It was also a notable year for Suri, who earned his own maiden title in Denmark a few months later, and played his way into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Rankings, and he’s hoping to kick start another climb this week.
Coetzee said, “I’m definitely quite happy and relieved to have pulled it off last week. I think it was just all round, from technical aspects of my swing, to short game, to putting, to driving well, to keeping my head.
“After Friday’s round of golf, I think we were seven shots behind, so I wasn’t really happy or feeling like we had any real chance of making a run at the event. I did kind of get my head into a better space that evening I felt, and after that it was just going with the flow.
“New week, new golf course. It’s not a golf course I know so I’m just checking it out now for the first time, but I’m really enjoying it. Hopefully I’ll have some more of the Portuguese magic this week and pull off another one, but I guess that’s golf, you never know.”
