Today is the final day of the PT Tour Season
– February 27, 2025
Algarve-native Tomás Melo Gouveia finished yesterday (Wednesday, February 26) with 9 strokes under par at the Palmares Ocean Living & Golf Resort in Lagos, reinforcing his leading position at the closing tournament of the PT Tour, which offers €15,000 in prize money.
Tomás finished 9 strokes under par, 2 ahead of England’s Dan Smith, with Tomás Bessa now in 3rd, with -6, completing the second round with 68 strokes, 4 under par, on the Alvor and Lagos courses.
On the inaugural round, on Tuesday, Tomás had posted 67 (-5), which now totals 135 (-9). His lead over his closest rival went from 1 to 2 strokes, with England’s Dan Smith (70+67) now in 2nd place.
Ricardo Santos, who was tied for second place with Scotland’s Will Porter, dropped to 7th after posting an even-par 72 on Wednesday. Santos (68+72), a DP World Tour winner 13 years ago and champion of the 2022 Optilink Tour Championship in Vilamoura, now shares 7th place with Northern Ireland’s John Ross Galbraith (70+70) and Ireland’s Alex Maguire (72+68).
Meanwhile, two other Portuguese players moved in the fight for the title. Tomás Bessa advanced to 3rd place, tied with England’s Jack Broun on 138 (-6), and Bessa, winner of the Optilink Tour Championship in 2023 (in Vilamoura), scoring a solid round of 68 (-4) to add to Tuesday’s 70 (-2).
Daniel da Costa Rodrigues also moved up, to 5th place, tied with Scotland’s Will Porter (68+71) on 139 (-5), remaining very consistent with rounds of 70 (-2) and 69 (-3).
Both Daniel da Costa Rodrigues and Tomás Melo Gouveia have already won a PT Tour tournament this year and will be looking for their second titles of the season this Thursday.
Having completed the first two of the three rounds, there are 18 players under par out of the 73 participants.
Tomás Melo Gouveia commented: “I didn’t have my best game today, but it was a good round. The putt got me out of it, so to speak. It was good to see that, even though my game wasn’t 100 per cent, I managed to make birdies and get a good result,” said the winner of the 2nd Palmares Open in January (-22 on the Lagos-Praia courses).
“The aim is to be at the top, to have the chance to win in the last round. I think I’ve achieved that and if I play well tomorrow I hope to win,” Tomás added. He is looking to become the fourth Portuguese in six editions to win the Optilink Tour Championship, after Ricardo Santos (2022), Tomás Bessa (2023) and Pedro Figueiredo (2024).
Today, Thursday (February 27) marks the third and final round, which began at 8am. This round introduces a new format, with two holes being played at the same time, to ensure the prize-giving ceremony can take place earlier, at around 3.30pm.
The PT Tour is the Portuguese international circuit for professionals and high-performance amateurs, sanctioned by the Portuguese Golf Federation (FPG) and PGA Portugal.
The tournament’s main standings and the results after the completion of the second of three rounds were as follows:
1st – Tomás Melo Gouveia (Portugal), 135 (67+68), -9.
2nd – Dan Smith (England), 137 (70+67), -7.
3rd – Jack Broun (England), 138 (69+69), -6.
T3rd – Tomás Bessa (Portugal), 138 (70+68), -6.
T5th – Daniel da Costa Rodrigues (Portugal), 139 (70+69), -5.
T5th – Will Porter (Scotland), 139 (68+71), -5.
T7th – Ricardo Santos (Portugal), 140 (68+72), -4.
T16th – Hugo Camelo (Portugal), 143 (72+71), -1.
T28th – Vasco Alves (Portugal), 147 (72+75), +3.
T28th – Hugo Santos (Portugal), 147 (74+73), +3.
T51st – Vasco Silva (Portugal), 154 (76+78), +10.
67th – Duarte Reis Ferreira (Portugal/Angola), 172 (93+79), +28.
71st – João Costa (Portugal), 181 (90+91), +37.